Ashiore exhaled into her hands, trying desperately to warm them. She should probably buy some gloves soon, as the hand wraps that she was using were starting to look tattered around the edges. And even if they were brand new, they weren't really the best solution to keeping out the cold. And way up here? It was definitely very, very cold. Pulling her newly purchased fur cloak tighter around herself, she cast her eye over the nearby cliffs. These mountains weren't home to the happiest memories, she thought with a slight wince. The events of the Falderen ambush and the ensuing stint in prison were hard to forget. Still, she was here for a reason. And that didn't mean that it wasn't a very incredible view: Snowy peaks stretching endlessly across the horizon, pale even against the gray sky, the silvery glint of rivers and waterfalls in the far distance; the patches of evergreen trees streaking across the slopes, the richer, denser canopies of Astorea's temperate forests far, far away... Yes, it was an undeniably magnificent view. Ashiore murmured a quick thanks to the owner of the small restaurant that she had taken a break in. It wasn't a busy place--in fact, nowhere in town was. That suited her just fine. A little quiet was nice, despite the freezing weather. The mountains in Falderen never rose so high, so it felt just like the dead of winter even now. Getting up from her seat, she looked around for Prometheus. The vulture had decided to take advantage of the open-air seating arrangement and had left to perch somewhere else as Ashiore ate. She'd have to collect him before she made a journey back to the blacksmith where she had left her ritual dagger. Hopefully the engravings would be done by now. She'd heard that elementals were to be found in the Hylands, creatures of magic that normally only could be brought into the world through summoning magic. And, given the scrolls that she had found lurking in Astorea's depths, she supposed that if she was going to be looking into summoning magic, there'd be no better place to get things done than in the Hylands. After a long period of study, she had managed to decipher what appeared to be the name of a spirit, and some instructions for summoning. Among the necessary 'ingredients', for lack of a better word, was a magical focus with the name of the spirit to be summoned inscribed on it. "Ah, ma'am!" the owner said as she began to make her way out. Mildly surprised, she turned to look back at the young Caenis man, who held a piece of paper in his hand. "If you're staying for a while longer, perhaps you might want to wait until this afternoon. We've got a special event going on around town." Curious, she reached out to take the paper from him. "Is there a festival going on?" she asked, as she began to scan the paper. "No, not really." The man--Yevan, probably, judging by the sign just outside the restaurant that read Yevan's Eatery--said, scratching at a furry ear. "It's just, you know. Something to attract visitors. We don't get many people traveling here," he said, gesturing at the admittedly rather sparsely populated town. "So the mayor got an idea to do a Freezer Bison Rodeo. Should be fun. Lots of action, lots of excitement. Everyone in town is coming, you should watch too." "I see," Ashiore said, looking at the flyer in her hands. There was a very well-done sketch of a bison with someone riding on it, and some little details about where the event would be held. She briefly weighed her options. If everyone in town was going to be there, then maybe the blacksmith would be delayed? "I guess I could stay," she said, giving the man a slight smile. "It sounds interesting." Well, that was settled. And now to find where Prometheus had gotten to... @Ceres
Ceres wasn't one to normally explore any place too far off Astorea, especially since she felt quite... under equipped for long journeys. But even though she hadn't been playing for long, she felt that she had quite an affinity for blacksmithing. Her curiosity had lead her to the Hylands, where she had heard rumors of a substance called Aelgus. An ice-like substance that never melted and never broke, when treated properly. She didn't know how to handle Aelgus, or even if it existed or not, but if it existed... Journeying through the harsh landscape, Ceres let out a sigh of relief as she spotted a village. While she still had plenty of supplies, it wouldn't hurt to keep stocked up. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere without supplies would be quite the damper. Regardless, she had things to do and a journey to continue. Maybe when the weather wasn't quite so harsh though. After buying a couple of things here and there, along with looking for a place to stay the night if needed, Ceres looked at peculiar piece of paper. It advertised some sort of event called the 'Freezer Bison Rodeo', she hadn't heard of that animal before, how curious. Going to see what the commotion was all about, she headed for the town square. Apparently where the event was going to take place. Upon getting there though, she could honestly say that what she saw defied all expectations of this so called rodeo.
Bird collected, Ashiore really had no trouble making her way around town to where the supposed Rodeo would take place. The town itself wasn't very large, and the residents were always more than happy to walk with her, as it seemed to be approaching the time that the event would be starting. Luckily for her, she had taken a quick break to check back at the blacksmith, she found the stout faerin lady running the establishment with her dagger perfectly finished. So, with business done, it was obviously time for pleasure. The crowd wasn't unmanageable despite how much the townspeople were hyping it up. When she arrived at the town square, though it did seem far more lively than she would've expected, it wasn't so rowdy that she couldn't push through the crowd to find somewhere with a bit of a better view of the center area. The main portion of the square had been fenced off, she noted, staring at the gray-brown wood of the reedy trees that grew this high up. They didn't look sturdy in the least, unfortunately. With a grimace, she took a few steps away. From what she had gleaned off of movies and TV shows growing up, rodeos didn't seem to be the... safest of places. While people were milling about and hawking wares and finger foods, Ashiore noted that there was someone else who seemed as out of place here as she was. At her shoulder, Prometheus let out a surly hiss as he was almost jostled by an ambling salesman. Yeah, maybe it was better to get a bit of distance from the crowd. "Afternoon," Ashiore said, giving the stranger (@Ceres) a brief smile. As a chill gust of wind blew through the area, she pulled her cloak tighter around herself. "It seems pretty lively here, doesn't it? Are you, uh, not from around here too?" Any long conversation was cut off, however, by an elderly Caenis man clambering up onto a stack of crates so he could be seen above the crowd. "Welcome, welcome! Our humble town of Cliffwatch welcomes you to the first annual Freezer Bison Rodeo!" After a brief pause for applause, which Ashiore contributed to lightly, the man continued, "Now let's welcome our brave riders today, and give our friends from far away probably their first glance of the elusive, magnificent, Freezer Bison!" Murmuring grew louder and louder as the crowd parted to one side, and a large buffalo-like creature was led into the arena. It definitely didn't look willing, and it took five people to haul the resisting beast into the center. Ashiore winced as one of its horns came dangerously close to goring an audience member in the shoulder. This... really wasn't safe at all, was it? What's more, the bison itself seemed very displeased. As she was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole thing, feeling uneasy about both the blasé attitude towards safety, and the way the bison was being handled, she overheard some conversation between people nearby. "That's kind of small for a Freezer Bison, ain't it?" "Might be a young one?" another person offered, shrugging. "I sure as hell wouldn't be crazy enough to try and wrangle a fully grown one." The apparently adolescent bison snorted and stamped the ground with a big, heavy hoof. The young lady who seemed to be the first volunteer to try and ride it cockily walked over to the makeshift arena, giving the crowd a runway-style twirl for flair. As she did so, the bison let out a deep, rumbling growl that seemed to ripple through the air, bouncing off the buildings and sheer cliff walls until its echo spread through the little mountain valley.
There was an uneasy silence after the Freezer Bison let out its call. She could even spot a few of the residents starting to run... that could not be good. However, it seemed that the show must go on and the festivities were shortly back in order. The show was... interesting to say the least. Interesting, and really dangerous judging by how many times the volunteers almost got gored or trampled. It happened right in the middle of a ride. The thunderous sound of hooves and crumbling of houses. Ceres didn't need to use her magic to know that something disastrous was happening. Grabbing a hold of her weapon, but not quite drawing it, she rushed off the the source of the sound. Whatever happened, it wasn't good and she was planning on staying in the town for a bit longer, something that would be easier if it wasn't crushed to pieces. A short incantation to help make her way around the busy and panicked crowd, she ended up in the center of the larger commotion. A gigantic, white furred beast with horns that looked more like ballista bolts. Currently trampling and smashing everything in sight as the town guard tried to ward it off with spears and bows. Their attacks were doing seemingly nothing as the Freezer Bison continued its rampage. Considering that all she had on her were the clothes on her back and a brittle, hastily crafted sword, she was at a loss for what to do. Looking around for anything that could potentially help, she was blindsided by a town guard slamming into her, sent flying by one of the creature's powerful slams.
While the call the bison let out was quite... ominous, to say the least, it appeared as though there was nothing to worry about for a while. Riders got thrown from the bison, people cheered when someone managed to cling on for a half minute longer than the last challenger, but nothing severely dangerous. Sure some people left the makeshift arena with a bruise or two, but Ashiore began relaxing just a bit as the event carried on. At least, for a while. It began as a far-off rumbling sound that Ashiore first thought was an avalanche. That would have been panic enough, but no, this was worse. Looking up over the horizon to try and find a source for the noise, she saw some large mass in the distance rapidly approaching. That... whatever it was, that definitely wasn't good. "That's a bison herd!" someone in the crowd yelled, obviously seeing the same thing and knowing what is was, and all hell broke loose. The audience scrambled and Ashiore found herself caught in a tide of people, crushed on all sides by frantic runners. She somehow managed to stagger out of the crowd only to see that over a dozen bisons rampaging through the center of town. She emerged from the fray just in time to see a pink-haired girl get thrown into the ground after colliding with someone else, right in the path of one of the bisons. "Watch out!" Ashiore said, sprinting over as fast as she could. She attempted to help up the girl to drag her out of the way before she could get run over.
Stunned but still barely able to tell what was going on, Ceres attempted to scramble to her feet but was stopped in her tracks when something started to drag her away. Once she and her savior were a relatively safe distance away from the carnage, she managed to shake away the ringing and get a good look at who just stopped her from becoming a stain on the ground. To her surprise, it was the woman from before, what a small world. Well, not really considering that they were both visitors to the town. Now on her feet and able to assess the situation, Ceres turned to look at the stranger and thank her properly. All that being said, there were still a bunch of rampaging Freezer Bisons wrecking havoc and no apparent way to stop them. However, they were looking for their young if the call was the catalyst of their arrival, and it was a rodeo... A horrible, ridiculous and dangerous plan started to hatch in her mind. But she said nothing for now, surely the other girl had a better plan, right? Turning to look at her, she asked simply, "Do you have any ideas on how to deal with all this?"
Pulling the other girl away from the bison, Ashiore's gaze went this way and that as she searched for somewhere out of the way. Finding a corner that looked good enough, they made their way around a building as the angry trampling of the herd of bison ravaged the town. Looking at the girl she had pulled along, Ashiore noted with a bit of surprise that it was the stranger she was trying to make conversation with before the rodeo began. And, of course, the girl had to ask if she had any ideas. Ashiore winced. "Ah..." She looked around the area, mind racing desperately to come up with something. Fences torn down, people scrambling through the streets in blind panic, the angry snorting of freezer bisons as they trampled anything--and anyone--unfortunate enough to be in their path. What could she do, how could she possibly help in this situation? "I, I don't know." She took a deep breath of the cold mountain air. "I can help to get people out of the way and patch up injuries, but I don't really have an idea of what to do to stop the bison." She grimaced and looked down at her hands. Worthless! The soil here wasn't good enough to sustain any of her usual plants, and what flora that did grow here didn't seem helpful in the least. Think, Ashiore, think! As she was brainstorming, she didn't notice that Prometheus had vanished in the commotion. The vulture was now circling above the herd, beady eyes locked on the apparent leader of the herd of freezer bison, the one with the largest horns. Only the best perch for the best vulture, after all. @Ceres
Ceres wasn't one for direct solutions most of the time, but certain things had to be done. She caught sight of a bird on the horns of the bison leading the group and decided to alter her insane plan a bit. Of course, she couldn't do it alone. She barely had any skills to her name and what glimpses of the future she wrought were often vague and misleading. That said, that didn't mean that she was entirely useless, the right person at the right place could change everything in the world. The creatures were based off of instinct and didn't really seem to even have a coordinated goal, only the leader did. Therefore, if she guided the leader away from the town, the rest of the bisons would soon follow. Of course, there was the issue of finding a way to direct the tide. Then it clicked, it was a rodeo. The lead beast was probably searching for its young, if they directed the little bison out of the town, this whole rampage could be stopped. Get on top of baby bison, lead it out of town, get it to call again and run away. A solid plan. Really. Turning to Ashiore, Ceres started to explain her plan, "I have a plan, the chances of something going wrong are heavily stacked against us, but here it is..."
