The Great Storm

[Verbena Domitia]

[Friday, mid-afternoon]

It has been snowing for hours and shows no signs of stopping. Even the sturdiest tents would be hard-pressed to stand against the blizzard, and as such, most of the town's over-winter residents have crowded into the inn and bunkhouse.

Verbena drums her fingers on the windowsill, frowning at the drift that has begun to encroach upon the view. She winces and snatches her hands away as a particularly strong gust rattles the panes and the building's frame groans. Suppressing a shiver, she addresses the room at large:

"It must be nearly over, mustn't it?" Her voice is strained. "It couldn't possibly continue much longer, the roof would collapse!" She gives a thin little breath that might be a laugh, but her statement hangs in the air, pleading for reassurance.

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"its gotta be, there can't be this much snow....anywhere!" Ceridwynn tries to peek out the window overlooking the air circle. They pout, snow now obscuring their view of the farm. "Wonder how well those trees hold up to the cold." They move closer to the fireplace, holding a bundle of scarves housing their spider enclosure in their lap. "Hey, at least if we're stuck in this, so are the Rakash."

[Verbena Domitia]

Verbena brightens at the thought. "True, I can't imagine they have much in the way of structures built that could withstand such a tempest. They are only too welcome to freeze to death." She squints at Ceridwynn. "What do you have tucked away there?"

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"Yeah, id rather deal with a Godosicle than..well, Godo. Im sure that one mangey fur wouldnt keep him too warm" They squint at Verbena "Depends, do you like bugs?"

[Verbena Domitia]

Verbena blinks at them and then forces a smile. "Why, what a delightful pile of scarves and nothing else!"

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

Ceridwynn rolls their eyes then gets an evil little grin. They stuff their hand in the scarf pile, taking out a balled up fist and starting to head toward her "Hey Veeeerbeeeenaaaaa!"

[Verbena Domitia]

"Ceridwynn, you boorish...!" She digs in her pocket and pulls out an earth mana, brandishing it at the faun. "This room is far too small for such nonsense!"

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"What? You wanted to know what I had." They blinked at the earth mana but continued toward her "You know what they say, curiosity killed the stuffy banker lady!"

[Mo'chi]

Mo'chi, carrying his entire alchemy kit, rushes into the inn. He sees Verbena and Ceridwyn, and waves.
The snow covered kaern shakes himself off and plops himself right in front of the fireplace.

Miserable, cold, but with his lifeline and alive.

[Verbena Domitia]

"I will bind you, Ceridwynn, don't think I won't!" Mana still raised, her eyes go wide at the sight of Mo'chi and she is momentarily distracted. "Mo'chi, have you been out in this slop this entire time?" Her tone hovers somewhere between irritation and concern.

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"Hey Mo'chi!" Ceridwynn waves back with their free hand "Verbenas throwing around mana all willy nilly"

[Verbena Domitia]

Verbena looks stricken. "I have never in my life done anything "willy nilly"." She says the word with distaste, but her hand has lowered somewhat in observing Mo'chi. "Any word from the outside, dear?"

[Mo'chi]

Mo'chi is desperately trying to groom himself, but he pauses to pull out his chalkboard and answer. "Niko built our cabin bad and the roof collapsed. He's fine, thankfully. But it was a nasty wake up call."

"If the snow fell on me, I don't think anyone would've found me. It's real bad out there." He took off his wet jacket and cloak then continued. "Throw mana around and you'll just lose it." The kaern then returns to grooming his sufficiently snow soaked fur.

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

Ceridwynn sticks out their tongue, throwing what was in their fist at Verbena. A dry leaf flutters to the ground by Verbena as Ceridwyn prances over to Mo'Chi with a self satisfied smile as they take the cloak and hang it by the fire for them. "That bad out there? Wonder if the Citadel will survive."

[Verbena Domitia]

Verbena rolls her eyes at Ceridwynn and crushes the leaf under her foot before sitting down. "It had better." She rubs her arms as though fending off the cold, despite the almost oppressive heat from the woodstove. "Who's in town? Should we do a... a roll call of some kind? If Mo'chi could have gone unnoticed, there's no telling who else might be out there."

[Mo'chi]

He shrugged at mention of the Citadel. "If its sturdier than Niko building something, it should be fine." He wrote out.

Mo'chi nodded at the mention of a roll call. Though... he wasn't going back out there unless Keket or Niko were in trouble. And they were fine, as far as he knew.

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"Sounds like a good plan. I know Kez is out of town. The  are prooobably alright. Same with the Arluru. Pretty sure I saw Dimitri and Rin around here somewhere?" Cerideynn flops by the stove, taking out their notebook as they started writing names. "This town needs snowshoes and sleds. Hey Mo'chi, you think Niko can make the runners for a sled?"

[Verbena Domitia]

"Who else is out of town?" Verbena pulls out her notebook and licks the nib of her pen. "Kez, Ardin, Theo, Krond..." She hesitates, then more tersely: "Francis."

[Mo'chi]

Mo'chi nodded. Niko, as much as Mo'chi has been insulting him, has gotten better at building stuff. He writes again "We'll have to search when this clears up. You're likely to blow away in this." He almost did coming here.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! throws open in the inn door, and then slams it closed behind them.

They are a walking snowman. Snow has covered and stuck to every part of their outfit and face. They're shivering so badly it almost seems like they have two noses and three eyes. Their teeth sound like a pair, nay, an entire set of maracas.

Ignoring everyone in the room, they immediately head over to the fire. After an impatient three seconds of nothing happening, they manage to get out, through chattering teeth, "With fire I fuel the flames!", causing the wood to be consumed at an alarming rate, and the stove to start glowing a dull, but worrying red.

They seem to be considering whether or not to try to squeeze into the stove.

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

"I ain't going out in this. Reminds me I need to talk to a blacksmith about a shield...oh hey Torvallis!" Ceridwynn waves to them

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! is still defrosting at the stove, and does not appear to respond

[Mo'chi]

Mo'chi, fur soaked through, appears unbothered by the glowing red stove. In fact, he scoots closer to it. The kaern doesn't lie on top of it but... fire good. Fire nice. Fire warm.
He blinks at T! in silent thanks for making the fire warmer. He nods at Ceridwyn... going outside right now would be terrible.

[Lexicus]

The door of the inn opens and in steps a nearly frozen elf. Lexicus struggles to close the door against the wind but manages to do so. He shakes a bit of snow from his cloak before entering further into the warmth. Resting his staff against a wall, he then takes a seat and tries to restore feeling to his fingers. He had been outside nearly all day, but he could bear it no longer. Tor'Quira remained hot dry year round and he couldn't recall and winters in the Mists being this harsh. He was not prepared for this.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis!, impatient at the fire's progress in melting their ice-laden robes, suddenly turns to a corner, where they take off their robe and peg it up on the clothesline to form a curtain hiding them from the rest of the inn. The sound of pouches hitting the floor is heard.

"With fire I burn my clothing!"

And then a bright light from behind the, apparently fireproof, robe-curtain and a yelp of pain. When Torvallis! steps out from behind the robe, which looks for all the world like someone pegged up a sheet of snow, they are clothed again, with their pouches once again adorned. The fur on the mana pouches looks slightly more singed than it used to.

Torvallis! walks over to the inn table where everyone is sitting, raises a hand . . . pauses, gets and drinks an entire mug of ale in one swallow, then goes back to table, pounds the mug on the table and announces:

"WE SHOULD DECLARE WAR ON LORD WATER"

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