Navigation Event

A recent blizzard has created extremely dangerous conditions in Fenrir's Maw. Snow has rapidly piled up on the mountains, as deep as three or four feet in some spots, and navigating the terrain is extremely difficult. As you are crossing the already dangerous mountain pass, you feel the earth rumbling beneath your paws - and when you look toward the mountain's peak, you see sheets of snow and ice beginning to roll down the mountainside as an avalanche begins to ravage the mountain. Time to run..

Skill Claim form

If you complete this thread with at least 3 rounds each, you can claim extra skill points in navigation! Only the first four participants are allowed to respond. Please be aware that if you take more than three days to reply you might be skipped that round!

Code:

[b]Skill[/b]: Navigation
[b]Points claiming[/b]: 15
[b]For what?[/b]: Participated in a weather-related random event
[b]Proof[/b]: <a href="LINKHERE">click!</a>

[*code]+15 - <a href="LINKHERE">Participated in a weather-related random event (avalanche)</a><br>[*/code]

Lydia ran. She'd taken off and hadn't even stopped to figure out what direction she was going in but eventually she made her way out of Auster and into Boreas, fearing that each moment Pyralis was about to close in on her, that Abraxas might be hunting her. Days turned into weeks and winter nestled its way into Boreas. As Lydia moved through the Eastern lands a freak blizzard had caused her to take shelter in a small cave as she journeyed through the maw. She wasn't sure what she'd been thinking. Trying to navigate the maw in winter was a foolish idea. Right now she hoped to make it back down the mountain and journey to the western lands. She debated about camping in the south for the winter but it was to close to Auster, to close to the Abraxas. She took one deep breath and then another as she crawled out of her cave and into the snowy land around her. Lydia started making her way down the mountain pass, eager to get closer to sea level when she felt the ground start to rumble beneath her feet. No… oh spirits above, what now? "Talk" "You" Think

It was time to make her way north into Boreas once more. Why? Because she could do whatever she wanted and crossing continents on a semi-regular basis was what she wanted. She skipped and sauntered her way through the snow at an easy pace, head held high in the cold winter breeze like she owned the place. Arwen wasn't with her today, but that was alright cause the kid was getting BIG. Well, okay, it was clear she'd never be tall but she was certainly filling out and looking more adult. So now Iskra didn't feel as guilty when she gave into wanderlust.

Bouncing into the east the nebulous red woman was feeling pretty good. A darker patch in the sea of snow ahead caught her attention and she was about to go prancing on over to greet whoever it was when she felt the earth trembling beneath her paws. The ground had never done that to her before. How curious. Narrowing her blue eyes, Iskra was going to continue looking at it when she realized she heard a faint sound nearby... Lifting her head, the woman slowly let out a breath she didn't recall holding. Shit. A mass of snow, ice, rocks and other large debris was hurtling down the mountain.

"You may wanna run," She called to the stranger, using a tone that was far too calm for the situation as she turned to try and put as much distance between herself and the fast approaching wall of certain death as she could. She probably couldn't run quick enough to get entirely out of the way... Maybe there was a good spot to be when it got here that would keep her out of the worst of it?

The woman really was ranging all over. She was carefully picking her way along the difficult terrain, brilliant greens turned towards her paws so as to avoid slipping on the treacherous path. Maggie was still mostly unbothered by the less than hospitable winter weather. 

Just as she was starting to feel confident in her ability to move without having to be watching her every step the ground began to shake beneath her paws. She stopped suddenly, her legs splaying as she braced. Her ears pulled back and for a moment she stared wide eyed. Slowly, ever so slowly she lifted her gaze upwards to watch as a sheet of snow was sliding towards her. 

From up a head she heard a call and red form started to push towards her from a head. Finally fighting through the fog of her mind she forced her legs to move and began to retreat from the approaching snow, her gaze scanning for a cave or something in the rock to duck into to avoid the coming onslaught.

"Get out alive!" He had finally decided to leave the more desolate places of the North and went off to search for something...more. he wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he couldn't stay in the North lands forever. Wandering paws brought him to a pass in the east, winter had set in and he had spent the night in a small cave further up the mountain side. Now, he was carefully making his way down and heading south to see what else lied in these strange lands. He was also feeling hungry, and he couldn't quite remember when he had last eaten. He wasn't starving, but his stomach growled fierce enough for him to notice. Pausing where he was, he gazed around in search of a potential meal, and when his stomach growled again, the ground would shake at the same time. He froze, slightly confused. Was he...imagining things? A dull crack and the ground steadily shaking beneath him, growing with intensity began to set alarm bells in his head. Slowly turning to look behind him, he saw it. Eyes grew wide, the male seemingly glued in place as he watched the snow and debris hurdle down the mountainside. Shit! As he watched trees succumb to the onslaught, he finally took the cue to run. And so he turned and bolted down the hillside as fast as his paws could carry him, half stumbling, sliding, and rolling due to the incline and his speed and panic. What a day to choose to travel! The closer he got to the bottom of the pass, he swore he could feel the ground heave with every step, but he dared not look behind him. But of course, curiosity would make him do it anyway. He was close enough to the bottom now, so he tossed a look behind him and his eyed widened more. Avalanches traveled faster than he thought! As soon as he returned his attention forward again, he spotted another wolf too little, too late. "Look out!" The words had barely left his mouth before he tripped, slipped, and practically flew off his feet and right into her (Magnolia)... "Speech", Thought, "You"

When had time started moving so slowly? She turned her head to see a massive sheet of snow and ice barreling toward her. An avalance! Lydia took off running perpendicular to the direction of the torrent of snow. She knew she could never outrun the thing so she hoped that by scrambling up the steeper sides of the path she could get out of the way. Someone called out to her about running but she was too focused on what she was doing to answer. All she could think was I'm trying!. For a moment she thought she was going to make it but she miscalculated the width of the oncoming onslaught and it slammed into her. Lydia let out a scream as she flailed in the snow, trying to remain calm despite her heart hammering in her ears as she moved her limbs like she was swimming, desperate to stay on top of the rush of snow. Her eyes darted everywhere, hoping for a tree branch or something she could grab on to. She needed help but the question was could anyone offer it. Dimly she was aware of other voices. Were those wolves ok? Had they been caught like her? "Talk" "You" Think

As the wall of snow came tumbling down the mountain, the walking red nebula ignored the strangers who's numbers were seeming to increase the more she payed attention, instead favoring the hunt for a way to stay at least out of harms way enough that she wouldn't get squished. Tree? It's get knocked over and snatched up like a feathery light splinter. Cave? Uhhh, she didn't see one close enough. Actually it looked like there was one but the whole snow wall of death was in the way and she'd rather not run towards danger. Well, getting out of the way entirely wasn't the best option, even running perpendicular to the slide she'd still not be fast enough to get all the way out of the way... But, it was something she supposed.

Racing as fast as she could. Iskra didn't waste time trying to run straight away from the slide, that'd just keep her in front of something that moved way faster than her. No, instead she ran at an angle, hoping to get as close to the edge of what was coming at her as possible. Going as quick as her legs and lungs would allow, the woman could almost taste freedom when- ouch! She tripped over the decaying remains of an old log, falling neatly into a massive piece of what was once the bark of an old tree. Then the snow and debris came charging down the mountainside right at her, scooping up the red woman in her little life boat as though she weighed nothing. But, she was on top of it! Sure, she was upside down, paws stretched out skywards and eyes wide with panic. Hey, at least she was alright! It wasn't the most impressive of graceful ride to be sure. Iskra'd take living over looking good any day though.

The onslaught began suddenly, the roof of snow tumbling down towards the scattered wolves and instinct kicked in for all of them. Magnolia was running as fast as her legs could take when suddenly something hit her, knocking her clean off her paws. At first she thought it was the wave of snow and she panicked, kicking out with her hind legs in a desperate attempt to avoid being buried under the snow. Awkwardly twisting to view the imminent danger she realized that instead of the wave of snow she was expecting, it was the form of a young male. With a panicked glance upwards, she let out a terrified scream. The snow was nearly upon them and even as she struggled to untangle herself from the man she knew she'd not be able to escape. Just as she was getting to her paws the blanket of snow pressed down upon her and the world went dark and silent. She was swept of her paws once more and began to desperately swim in the direction she thought was up. "Big Fun"

"Fragile little thing, shattered too fast" Oh shit! He crashed right into her, and before he knew it he felt a wave of snow come over him. No doubt the female he had collided with had gotten caught too, and he could feel her coming and going as she was probably flailing just as he was. He didn't have any time to move out of the way before the snow had come crashing down on them, much less since he had to go tripping and crashing into someone else. Now he was feeling bad because if he died in this, then more than likely she would too. But alas, the feeling bad part could only last so long as panic swelled up and began to take him. His heart pounded hard in his chest, snow roaring in his ears as he desperately tried to recall what his parents had taught him about avalanches. Try to run parallel. Well, too late for that. If you're caught in it, try to swim up and against the snow... Okay, but which way was up? His eyes were open for the most part, and though he was being tossed and turned, he instinctively knew which way was up and which was down. On top of that, he kept feeling the harder surface of the ground banging his rump here and there, and flashes of light from breaks in the snow. Gathering what strength he could, he kicked upward until his head broke the surface and it would take him a minute to be able to keep himself from going back under, but he had eventually succeeded. Wildly looking around for a way out, he caught glimpses of the female he had run into, and without hesitation he lunged for her. He didn't know what part of her he was grabbing, but he'd try to sink his teeth into fur and flesh and he dragged her up, trying to pull her to the surface alongside him. "Move with me!" He called over the roar of the avalanche. He began his struggle against the snow, trying to move parallel against it as well. He knew that they couldn't do this forever though, they needed a way out, but how? Who else had been caught up? Gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes, he searched for a way but couldn't see anything. They were too far from the trees now and if they tried to move for the rocks they'd surely get crushed against them. What did they do now? He had made it this far, he wasn't going to let the snow take him back under if he could help it... ooc//Crap tag >.> "Speech", Thought, "You"

Lydia continued to struggle against the wave of snow. She was growing tired and the wave just kept coming! Her heart was pounding in her ears as she pushed herself to the breaking point but in the end perhaps it really had been pointless. What was one wolf against such a force of nature? Despite Lydia's best efforts the snow washed over her and she was enveloped in the cold and dark. She had just enough presence of mind to take a deep breath before she was pulled under and the snow settled. She waited until it finally started to slow and once she felt that she was no longer moving she reached out with her right paw and carefully dug an air pocket. She exhaled, feeling the snow shift around her again. How far down was she? It was difficult to tell but she'd managed to stay afloat for quite some time so surely she wasn't to deep. Lydia weakly pawed at the snow. She felt battered and bruised but already she could feel panic starting to well in her stomach at being buried alive. Was anyone out there to help her? "Talk" "You" Think

For a while Iskra simply held her breath and hoped for the best. So far she hadn't gone under the wave of snow and debris. How long would that last, though? Thinking that appeared to have been a mistake, as fate or some other invisible force saw fit to have her little bark life boat get caught on something just below the surface of the snow. It stopped moving briefly, while Iskra continued, falling face first and struggling to right herself. Lucky for her, she fell as this nightmare was on it's last leg, slowing and coming to a stop so that when at last she stopped moving, Iskra surveyed the world around her, taking stock of her crimson body to see if she'd escaped this surprise natural disaster intact. She was mostly buried, except for her head and tail. Ugh, she probably looked stupid like this, thank goodness no one was around to see her. Wait, hadn't someone else been around here before? After struggling - an embarrassing amount longer than she should have - to free herself, Iskra shook out her starry pelt and glanced around, finding herself alone.

Tip toeing over the ice, snow, and bits of uprooted trees, Iskra called out, "Hello?" She could have sworn there were some strangers around. They probably got buried pretty far down. Sniffing around, Iskra moved this way and that, trying to narrow down where they'd be. At one point she thought she caught a scent. Sticking her nose into the ice, she took a big whiff and was fairly sure she smelled something but wasn't exactly certain and ended up with a frosty muzzle.

For a few moments there was only panic, pure instinctual panic, the snow was slowing and she needed to get her wits about her. First things first, she had to make sure she was actually moving upwards. With a swipe of her paw in front of her face she cleared a small air pocket. She worked her jaw for a moment then allowed a string of drool to dangle from her lips. She blinked for a moment, puzzled as to why the string hadn't run down her chin but instead dangled in front of her eyes. Then it clicked and with a few strong swipes of her paws turned herself right side up. Good so now she knew the way up, she only had to breach the surface of the snow. If there was ever a moment Magnolia was unhappy for her heavy northern built pelt it was now. Snow seemed to cling to her and dragged her down. Finally her nose poked above the surface of the snow and she took a deep breath, the top of her skull quick to follow. Then teeth were digging into her neck, not quite the scruff and she winced, instinctively trying to break free from what could only be an attack. Then a voice commanded her to work with it and she turned her focus from fleeing to getting more of her body free. With her head fully above the snow's surface she watched as the snow finally stopped and she felt herself slow as well, her toes brushing warm and furry before she was carried away from it. Another voice called out and Maggie managed a hoarse reply. "Hello!" For a moment she allowed herself time to just breath a sigh of relief that the worst seemed to be over and even buried up to her neck in snow she was safe. Then the thing she had felt suddenly registered with her and Maggie felt her stomach flip nauseatingly. "I think someone's buried! Over there!" She pointed her nose in the direction she thought she had felt the living thing and slowly did her best to free herself from the snow, though she felt much much too slow. "Big Fun"

"Ghost of you" Oh! Thank the heavens the nightmare stopped! He was half buried, but at least things had stopped moving around him. He felt bruised and battered, and all he wanted to do now was take a nap, but alas he knew he had to get out of the snow and to safety. But first...wait, was that girl okay? He turned his head until he spotted her next to him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least she wasn't buried. As he struggled to pull himself free from the snow, he shook his snow laden coat to try and free himself from the packed ice that had saddled him. He took a moment to catch his breath, but no more than a moment after he approached the girl that had gotten caught up with him and proceeded to dig away the snow that surrounded her. It didn't take long before his head shot up when someone shouted, had others gotten caught too? The girl he was helping responded, then motioned to where someone else might have gotten buried. Shit! Okay, now they needed to hurry! He worked faster, and within a few short minutes he had dug enough to where she could pull herself free. Turning around, he looked around for any other signs of life, and not too far away he spotted a red figure. Blood!? He felt a slight panic rise in his chest, but on closer inspection, realized it was...a wolf!? As surprised as he wanted to be, he would keep it at bay for now. Someone needed help, and he would do his best to find her. "C'mon, let's go help," He exclaimed before carefully picking his way over the snow with his nose to the ground. He hadn't seen anyone else, but then again he had been much too busy trying to live. "Helloooo! If you can hear me, try to make some noise!" A bark? A howl? If they were knocked unconscious, then he hoped to the heavens they could locate whoever was buried around here. As he searched and waited for a response, he made his way towards the red figure, if anything, to see if she was alright or if maybe she'd found someone else. "Speech", Thought, "You"

ooc: sorry for shortness!

Lydia took a few deep breaths, willing herself to stay calm. It wasn't terribly dark, she could make out which way was up and the outlines of chunks of snow. Everything was muffled but dimly she thought she heard a voice calling out. "Here! I'm down here, help!" She tried to shout, praying she was loud enough. That's right, there had been other wolves nearby. If they were ok, maybe the could help her. Carefully Lydia began to move toward the surface, shifting a little and waiting to see what the snow would do. Each minute she could feel panic trying to seize her. "Talk" "You" Think

Moving in careful zig-zag patterns with nose low to the ground, Iskra sought out the missing wolf. Red ears would stand at attention as she carefully hunted for sounds or smells that might clue her in to where the girl she saw before might be. Noting the approaching figures, Iskra's tail fanned the air to signal she noticed them while she continued searching. As if the maw's mountainous terrain wasn't difficult to navigate in it's own right, trudging through the ice and snow that has come hurtling down at them was even more difficult. Flicking an ear, she noted the lack of wind and hoped that meant no more sliding snow.

Her tedious back and forth and careful sniffing and listening was rewarded when she got closer to the pale boy and one of her rotating ears caught a muffled sound under the snow! Without hesitation she would sink her muzzle into the powder, bringing her ears closer and caught the tail end of a voice calling out. Success! "Here! She's here!" Iskra yelled hurriedly as she set to work digging at the snow, trying to take an angled approach so she wouldn't do something dumb and fall straight down a hole hidden under the aftermath of the avalanche. Working as fast as she could and hoping the help of the strangers might make this quick, Iskra called down into the snow, "Don't worry, we're digging you out!"

With the help of the male she had tripped over earlier she finally broke free of her snowy prison. Rising to her full height the woman took a moment to shake the snow from her fur, shivering. As much as she might have been built for the cold her heavy coat did not keep being buried in a heavy wave of snow from being rather chilling, and the wetter snow still clung to her pelt. Though she didn't particularly care about that right now. She rushed to aid the red woman in digging the buried wolf out. She could only imagine how little time they might actually have, it depended on if they were able to breath or not... and even then no doubt hypothermia would set in eventually. Magnolia dug with a rare frown on her face, the usually cheerful woman was solemn as she raced to help the trapped individual. "Big Fun"

Lydia continued to move with calculated precision toward the murky gray of what she could only assume was the surface. It wasn't pitch black at least so surely this was up. Suddenly she heard a voice above her. They found her! She felt tears of relief form in her eyes. Oh thank the spirits! She heard the shifting of snow and slowly, moment by moment, the gray above her began to lighten. Around her the snow began to shift and she worked to bring herself closer to the surface until a beam of sunlight burst down. Blinking she scrambled and pulled herself to the surface. Laying atop the snow she turned to the three wolves and in between panting thanked them. "Thank you! I thought I was done for. Thank you all so much!" "Talk" "You" Think