Ryleh puts her arm around Aananda and helps her walk.
"Let's get moving then. No, don't worry," she says, "she's fine. Just in need of some rest."
Aananda makes an effort to walk as fast as she can, but is hindered by the need to stop and throw up every five minutes.
Aananda makes an effort to walk as fast as she can, but is hindered by the need to stop and throw up every five minutes.
Aananda makes an effort to walk as fast as she can, but is hindered by the need to stop and throw up every five minutes.
The extreme cold starts to creep into the dragons' bones, but their hearty constitutions allow them to stave off the worst effects (including the onset of hypothermia). Ryo's clothing offers him slightly better protection from the temperatures since he is keeping the winds at bay via his card magic.
After about an hour trudging slowly through the field of snow and razor-sharp ice, they manage to reach the large upthrust. With a little searching, a fissure large enough to accomodate everybody is found, and they go inside.
The area beyond is a bit larger than the opening, which should keep the worst of the wind at bay (and help to keep some bit of heat in).
Ryleh gets Aananda settled in a reasonably comfortable alcove before beginning to heat the air just a bit with matter agitation.
Aananda pulls her warmer clothes out of her pack and tries to put them on over what she's already wearing. She feels uncomfortably weak after all of the vomiting.
"So....what....now," she said through chattering teeth.
Aananda pulls her warmer clothes out of her pack and tries to put them on over what she's already wearing. She feels uncomfortably weak after all of the vomiting.
"So....what....now," she said through chattering teeth.
Tam helps her get the extra layer of clothing on, and does whatever else he can to help her feel better.
"Well, we definitely can't stay here for any great length of time. If I can find out where the heck we are I may be able to do something about that. The sky needs to clear before I can do that, though..."
Tam helps her get the extra layer of clothing on.
"Well, we definitely can't stay here for any great length of time. If I can find out where the heck we are I may be able to do something about that. The sky needs to clear before I can do that, though..."
Ryo's eyes cloud as he lets the heat seep into his body.
"A week from now.. the storm stops. I see.. crystals and the large disk of beryl I saw on my first trip Above. The crystals are different here though.. I see a pattern. A.. warrior, maybe fighting a big cat of some kind."
"We aren't going to last a week in this cold," she said, huddling close to Tam for warmth.
"We aren't going to last a week in this cold," she said, huddling close to Tam for warmth.
He shrugs out of his duster and puts it on Aananda - and she immediately feels a comfortable temperature. Still huddled up against her, he says, "No, we aren't..."
"Ryo, do you have any way to put that wind-dampening effect on me? It doesn't have to be a big area - just enough to protect me. I've got an idea."
"We aren't going to last a week in this cold," she said, huddling close to Tam for warmth.He shrugs out of his duster and puts it on Aananda - and she immediately feels a comfortable temperature. Still huddled up against her, he says, "No, we aren't..."
"Ryo, do you have any way to put that wind-dampening effect on me? It doesn't have to be a big area - just enough to protect me. I've got an idea."
Ryo shakes his head to clear it.
"What? Oh, yeah, I should be able to move enough of it to you to protect you. Give me a moment..."
He reaches out to touch the the thin membrane of his magic, pinching a small portion from it and rolling it into a ball. Cupping it in his hands, he breathes deeply. When he breathes out, the ball grows larger. Once the size of a medium sized rock, he tosses it at Tamrin and watches as it forms a Tamrin-shapped bubble around him.
"That should hold until you get back. Do you want the barrier against the cold too?"
"We aren't going to last a week in this cold," she said, huddling close to Tam for warmth.He shrugs out of his duster and puts it on Aananda - and she immediately feels a comfortable temperature. Still huddled up against her, he says, "No, we aren't..."
"Ryo, do you have any way to put that wind-dampening effect on me? It doesn't have to be a big area - just enough to protect me. I've got an idea."
Ryo shakes his head to clear it.
"What? Oh, yeah, I should be able to move enough of it to you to protect you. Give me a moment..."
He reaches out to touch the the thin membrane of his magic, pinching a small portion from it and rolling it into a ball. Cupping it in his hands, he breathes deeply. When he breathes out, the ball grows larger. Once the size of a medium sized rock, he tosses it at Tamrin and watches as it forms a Tamrin-shapped bubble around him.
"That should hold until you get back. Do you want the barrier against the cold too?"
"If you can do one, yeah. That would allow me to keep my hands for this," he says with an odd smile.
A pinch, a breathing exercise, and a toss later, and Tamrin has his fuzzy keep-out-the-cold feeling. ;)
A pinch, a breathing exercise, and a toss later, and Tamrin has his fuzzy keep-out-the-cold feeling. ;)
Tam walks out of the 'cave' to test the aura. He nods approvingly.
"That'll do it - thanks man. Alright, I'll be back in a little bit. Aananda, put this on for me."
He comes back in and takes out a small device, presses a button, and a tiny green light flashes briefly. He then gently loops it around her ear.
"Personal communicator. You may have to step outside to reach me with it since it's line of sight. But it's got a range of about ten miles. Hopefully I won't have to go that far, but if anything happens, we can stay in touch. It's set to an encrypted frequency, but let's keep it to emergency use to be safe. I have a feeling there isn't much civilization on this snowball."
"Be careful, Tam." She gave him a quick kiss.
"Good luck."
"Promise. Besides," as he casts a spell on himself and heads back outside, "all I'm doing is touching the sky." ;D
Once he is clear of the fissure, he lifts off the ground and heads straight up, disappearing into the snow-filled clouds.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Ryo calls after him.
"And make sure I don't have to come get you because you got stuck in a snow cloud!"
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Ryo calls after him.
"And make sure I don't have to come get you because you got stuck in a snow cloud!"
"I bet flying in clouds is fun," she said, wistfully. "But maybe not snow clouds. I'm not the best flyer under the best circumstances. I wouldn't want to even try to deal with ice too."
And then she abruptly clutched her stomach and quickly found an out of the way spot to vomit some more.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Ryo calls after him.
"And make sure I don't have to come get you because you got stuck in a snow cloud!"
"I bet flying in clouds is fun," she said, wistfully. "But maybe not snow clouds. I'm not the best flyer under the best circumstances. I wouldn't want to even try to deal with ice too."
And then she abruptly clutched her stomach and quickly found an out of the way spot to vomit some more.
Tam ascends through the storm, able to keep a straight heading thanks to Ryo's protective wards. The winds were getting stronger the higher he climbed, but that had the benefit of shearing the cloudmass. Not too much farther now...
Suddenly, the clouds parted, and he was greeted by a vast expanse of starry sky, with two huge celestial bodies looming large and providing extra illumination. It took a moment for Tam to process the meaning of what he was looking at.
"Son of a...."
His voice trails off as he pulls his digital binoculars off of his belt, connects them to his datapad by a cable, and methodically starts to sweep the sky. As he does so, the images feed into the pad, its stellar-cartography software beginning to build a picture of where in the galaxy they are...