Closed to @Aalam Abungu Craggy peaks twisted skyward on either side of the path like two halves of a ceiling destined never to touch. Powder trickled through the cracks between mountains and frosty wind sent it earthbound. The trail was marked by hand carved markers, painted warm colors to stand out against the pale, creeping death. Before that innovation, countless travelers were claimed by the wroth of the barrier mountains. Kijin laid a hand on the intricate markings and activated his Investigation skill, eyes glimmering a faint green color as the Interface prompted him with new information. "This snow has pulled a foot in the last hour," he murmured, one finger pressed into the cold to test its resistance. It had yet to freeze. "If we can't make a better pace, we should find shelter to camp out for the night." He knew to press on was to ask the impossible. The debuffs from the weather alone made their movement speed abysmal, and unless something happened soon to yield some warmth, hypothermia would slowly set in. I did not sign up to die like this, he reflected. He glanced over to the other man, a skilled Astorean who had served alongside him in several missions now. Aalam understood the value of a good pair of hands, and he had offered to pay Kijin a generous sum to help him with a certain task. To ascend Mount Nanabosh and find the beast that resided there was a mission that sounded simple, on the surface. Every mile they got out of Astorea made things seem increasingly difficult. Kijin kept his mini-map active and watched the trail, marked with a red line he had drawn himself. So close, yet so far away. "Any ideas?" he asked the other man. "I wasn't expecting this to turn into knock down drag out with mother nature, for the record."
Well, this was a fuck fest, it seemed that Mother Nature was either pissed him or well he just had rotten luck. He was going to be able to tell right now in this snowfall; it was looking like it was going to slow down anytime soon. If they were unable to find someplace to camp, they would either be buried in snow or freeze to death. That would be a problem he had already walked his far, and the Gods be damned he was going to finish this job. It was a contract that he had put into action after all. He pulled down the cloth that he had tied over his face in an attempt to keep his lips from splitting under the cold. As he looked around the valley, it was a beautiful location and if the weather wasn’t trying to kill them. Would have been a nice walk in a valley, running he had along the walls as he listened to Kijin. The man was right, about the snow if he said that they needed to make camp, so he turned on his investigation mode as he looked around. Digging a bit of snow away from the walls of the canyon he needed to get the soil and see something. To kiijn, it was possible that he like a madman just digging away at the snow but it was worth it when he did ground. It seemed that time leveling up his herbalism skill was about to pay off, he had found a flower. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was what he was looking for because this type of bulb was one that wouldn’t be able to survive in direct sunlight. It was something that needed only a small amount; however, it required a right amount of darkness to grow. With that added information along with the wall painting there had to be a cave. “Aye she can be a bitch at times, but this is a moonlight rose, It only grows this amount of petals in a fair amount of darkness. If I am right there should be a cave a bit further up; if we can power through there, we might be able to weather the storm.”
"Shouldn't be too terribly difficult," the Swordsman replied, "the windward side of the range is North, so if we keep to this trail, we should get a buffer as we hug the southern side of the peak." If Aalam were correct and shelter was only a few meters away, well, even better. There was no mention of a path to the top, and the mountain itself looked treacherous from afar. Now that they were close enough to touch the rock face, Kijin grazed his fingers across the cold. "No chance that we'll be climbing this bad boy anytime soon," he remarked offhand. "I know I don't have the tools to manage it, at least. No apparent trail, either." They came to a point where the wind felt less severe, though the air still stung. Kijin turned to glance at his partner, uncertain of how to proceed. "See anything that might help us?"
Damn kijin was right there was no way that they would be able to scale those cliffs in this weather. The wind would batter then on the rock side like dolls if they attempted the climb. Added to the fact that the canyon wall was so jagged from years of natures abuse and he was sure the neither of them had any skilling in acrobatics as of current. The next time he saw lady Gywn, he would have to take her up on those climbing lessons. They might have come in handy on the job. However, as that was not an option that he was able to look into right now, then he would have to plow on. Kijin had the map, and if they need to get to the southern part of the range to find that bird, then it was what he was going to do. That would be difficult to complete if he was buried alive in snow, however. He could see the shelter; it was a small cave in the Cliffside, it wasn’t large but would offer a bit of protection. Checking his energy gauge, damn this storm was putting a drain on him. If they were able to push forward at a faster pace, there was the possibility that they might make it, but then again they could suffer hypothermia and die. Bracing himself against the wind as he looked at the paths that were laid out before him. “I can see only two real ways to get this done, we use the cave and wait out the storm, but with the snowfall, there is a good chance that he can become snowed in. And trying to dig our way out form a situation would lead to the loss of a few fingers at worst, and frostbite at least. The second option is that we push for the south peak, similar to a forced march if we can keep up the pace and weather the storm. We should be able to reach the area before we die.” Looking over at kijin he could see the man was cold, but he had seen the measure of the man. There was a good chance he would survive. “I want your opinion do we wait it out or push?”
