p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"Chapter 30/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You know, I just realized something." Vanessa spoke up, her being down in the storage area with Imbir and Scharf. "We've never been to Kalt. And it's a cold and snowy mountain, right? I bet that's where the Shiva Erpel might go." She suggested to the two./span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Scharf scoffed gently, putting his sniper rifle to the side, leaning it against the wall after a small inspection. "I doubt it would be /span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emthat /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"predictable. I mean… location, maybe. But I get the feeling it'll be a lot more complex than that."/span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"True." Vanessa agreed. "If it were that easy to find them, we'd be home by now." It then made her wonder about her home back in Holhen. "Now that I think about home… I wonder how dad is doing…" She then looked at the other two with a curious gaze. "What about you two? Got any family you're thinking about?"/span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Scharf nodded gently. "I'm thinking about my son… and how he's doing." He answered Vanessa, his eyes moving to his sniper rifle. "I wish I could face him right now… but I don't think I can until I have something to show I have some good in me to show him…" His tone seemed sad, which surprised Vanessa and Imbir to the point they looked at each other./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"I'd imagine being shamed by your own son is hard to deal with it." Imbir commented. "I wouldn't know how that feels. But… being shunned for a decision is something I can understand." Imbir, while being vague, did share a little bit of backstory to the ex-assassin and gun-wielding woman. Something… nobody in the party even knew./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Scharf eyed Imbir, leaned back on the wall behind him. "Is that so? Wouldn't happen to be by family, was it?" Scharf asked him./span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir shook his head. "A good friend of mine. You remember The General we met back in Holhen, right, Vanessa?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Uhh…" Vanessa went silent for a few seconds. "Oh yeah. That really intimidating lady."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir went silent for a few seconds once more, putting his hands together, his head down as well. "I was to be the next General of Mauer. And… well, I can imagine you guys don't see me as the General type of person."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Fleeing the battlefield, huh? Now that's something I haven't heard in the longest time." Scharf commented. "At least it's an honest reason. I'd rather be a mercenary than some Queen's little pet."/span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Hey." Imbir said, sounding a bit upset by what Scharf said. "She may be under the Queen of Mauer's orders, but she is not her pet. She's there because I wasn't willing to be a General. I owe her for taking my place."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"She took your place?" Vanessa asked with her head tilted a bit. "Were you guys friends before?"/span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir nodded again. "Like you always hear in books, she was my only friend. I wasn't exactly a social kid. A wallflower, you may call someone like I was. My parents were pretty protective of me. Kept me near the house all the time, warned me of strangers and all of that. I grew up thinking everyone was out to get me. Then… Ersetzen came in and said those words."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emWhy do your parents hold you back so much?" /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Those words echoed in his head, the single sentence that changed his perspective on a lot. A whole lot./span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did she know?" Vanessa asked. "About them keeping you close to home and all that?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Turns out, she's been stealing from our house. And anybody else near it." Imbir explained to Vanessa. "I was pretty shocked to find that out months later when we finally became friends that she stole from my family. But… that was my first experience of realizing my morals. What I found right. And what I found wrong."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Vanessa and Scharf were pretty surprised to get this deep into Imbir's past. It was… well, they didn't know what to think just yet. His story wasn't quite done yet./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"What did I find right? Letting have some of our food. She was poor. Alone. Forced to survive through crime." Imbir informed the two, his eyes still remaining locked onto his hands, clenching them a bit. "At that point, our friendship was secretly kept between us and nobody else. All the way until the very day she was caught. Her sentence was pretty high, but I saved up enough cash to pay her fine. If not having done years of work."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"And then we fast forward to you leaving the position as General, for her to take her place." Scharf pieced together. "So this was more of her getting even with you. Saving you from a metaphorical prison."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Essentially, yes." Imbir confirmed with a gentle nod. He then sighed. "Sorry I went on like that."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"No, no. It's totally fine, Imbir." Vanessa assured with a shake of her black haired head. "If anything… I'm happy to get to know you a little better." Vanessa added, leaning forward a bit. "You were total mystery to the entire group, if I'm being honest."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Was I?" Imbir asked, not realizing that up until now./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Both nodded his way./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Wow… I guess I never noticed. We all are frankly mysteries to each other, aren't we? I doubt we /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emtruly /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"know each other." Imbir pointed out./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"I suppose when this is all over, we can tell each other all about ourselves. Or whenever we have free time." Vanessa suggested with a smile. And a rather uplifting one at that./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Perhaps. I… rather look forward to it, honestly." Imbir stated, having a faint smile on his face./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"There was a static noise that made the three gun wielders curl up from the ear-piercing pitch of it, coming from the speaker./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Oi, this is your captain speaking." Cid spoke through the speaker. "We're heading to Kalt. If our suspicions are correct, we can find Shiva there. A bit of a stretch, but we don't have much in terms of options. And the locals can probably lead us to the right direction. And maybe to some warmer attire. So I suggest you get ready for some sweat freezing temperatures." The speaker soon cut./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Well… guess we better get ready." Scharf stated, standing right up, putting his sniper on his back, after tightening the strap around his upper torso./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Both Vanessa and Imbir nodded, as they got up and left the storage room. But Vanessa was left with a sense of attachment towards Imbir. As if learning his past drew her to a closer feeling towards him. It was an odd feeling, but a good one in the end./span/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongKALT/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongRecommended levels: 20 to 30 (Current average party level: 26)/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongCold Conditions/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"On the very edge of Kalt, Cid landed the airship right on the solid ground of the land. It was good he noticed the difference from the icy plates, otherwise their airship would have sunk down into the coldest depths of the ocean./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The party left the airship, all being immediately hit with the cold bite of the winds of Kalt. It was clear to see that Bereit was not used to the cold at all, given he was already shivering. As was Fallen, Vanessa and Kurve./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Dear lord! This place is freezing!" Vanessa shouted. "This is ridiculous!"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Come on. Let's just find a nearby village or something, and we can probably get some fur coats. Cid said there's one just up ahead…" Bereit informed those among the party who didn't know. But… the sight of the uphill path, along with the swirling clouds at the very top of the mountains, it left the party with more than a chill down their spine. Their whole bodies./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The sound of fire came from behind them, as they all turned to look at Kurve, having a ball of fire over his hands. "It's not much… but it'll hopefully keep us warm." Kurve explained to them sheepishly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It then popped into Bereit's head that he could use his fire as well. He felt silly for forgetting he could do that. He stepped to Kurve's side, as he lent his fire, as it made the fire stronger. "Here, let me help."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That's very kind of you." Zelkova spoke to Kurve, along with Bereit's assistance with a smile on his face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, thank you Bereit." Kurve told him./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Good thing we've got some mages who can use fire." Tier said, as she stuck close to Bereit's side./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The entire party stood close to Kurve and Bereit, clinging to that little warmth. And with that, they began to make their way up the cold and harsh path. Surprisingly enough, the path up wasn't all that bad, save it for the harsh cold. The party assumed this would be the point where monsters would come out and attack. Little did the party know what the real reason was./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It took them a bit of time, with Bereit and Kurve holding on to the little flame that would keep the party going, they finally came to a small town, just below the very beginning of the gigantic mountain behind it. Well, what could be seen, giving the huge wall of cold wind that was ever so close to the town./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh my god." Fallen said in shock, seeing what was presented to them. "Guys, I don't think this normal." She told them. "The next Erpel has got to be up that mountain."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Damn right this ain't normal." A rather tough female voice spoke up. The party looked towards the voice, seeing another of one of those lion-like people. But this one's fur was pure black, with, strangely enough, a few shades lighter fur coat that matched with her thick cotton pants. "Ever since that dragon showed up, that storm just kept getting stronger and stronger."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well… looks like your suspicions were right after all." Scharf whispered to Vanessa, seeing she was shivering pretty bad./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh, right. Strake's the name." She introduced herself, with a big grin. "Come, I'll take ya to my house. We can discuss… whatever's going on somewhere actually warm." She offered, looking at some of the shivering party members./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Please." Kurve begged./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake motioned her head. "Come." She offered the party, as they would follow the lion-like being./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"She's pretty quick to assume we're here to help." Tier pointed out, whispering to anybody that would listen./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Let's just hear her out." Bereit insisted./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The entire party walked down the clear snowy path that gave the town their road and every which way that lead to more homes. They would also see some of the residence who were outdoors, people in thick fur coats and mittens. While some were looking at the ever approaching storm. What could be their potential doom./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It left a few of the party members with thoughts about some of the residence being potential victims, or if there already were some. Seemed like a cruel way to die. In such a cold and brutal storm./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The party was soon brought to Strake's house. Her house was one of the smaller few of the town. It was in a triangular shape, with a few hanging pelts over the windows. Makeshift curtains, perhaps./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"After kicking away a bit of snow from the front of the door, she waved her hand towards the inside once she opened it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"One by one, they walked in, Kurve being the first to thank Strake as he walked by./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"A nice, warm fireplace, with a nice big bedroll, and a stove. And all in one room. A rather small house indeed./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Not exactly suited for eight people." Scharf commented, sitting right down./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Barely works for me, if I'm being honest. Not a big fan of tight spaces, but it's a home." Strake remarked, with her claws on her hips. She then walked up to the fireplace, gently poking it to help the fire stay. "So, I wouldn't exactly say you guys are what I expect to be our town's saviors. But beggars can't be choosers."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You… know of us?" Tier asked Strake./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake nodded. "A group of warriors going around and killing these dragons that are reeking havoc? How do you not hear of such a thing? Though, it sure took us a while for us to learn of it."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense." Bereit agreed. "I'm just glad it's positive." He sat down and crossed his legs, looking at everyone for a moment, with a slight smile on his face. It then reminded him about how unprepared they were for their trek up the mountain. "Oh, by the way," Bereit spoke up, looking at Strake. "You know where we can get any fur coats? We're gonna need them to head up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake scoffed. "You're gonna need more than just a coat." She informed him. "With such a huge storm, and not knowing where to go without a map, you're all gonna freeze to death out there. If the monsters don't get you first."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That is true." Imbir agreed. "And we can't just use our airship. I have no doubt there isn't a place to land up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Exactly." Strake said, as she looked out the window, looking at the fur pelt that covered it. "Which means you're gonna need an escort. Someone to bring you to the top." Strake was silent for a few seconds, before she turned around, with a proud smile on her lion-like face. "Hope you've got room for one more in your little group."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We've got a lot of room." Bereit replied, having a bigger smile on his face. "Glad to know we've got an escort."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Though, we're pretty exhausted after our last battle with the last Erpel we fought…" Vanessa spoke up, sitting right next to the fire. "Should we rest for a while before we head up?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That would be a wise idea." Zelkova agreed. "We may not have proper beds, but the warmth of the building will be more than enough."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake sighed. "Damn, I wish I could have prepared some bedrolls for you all. I'm sorry." She apologized, hanging her head low a little./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It's fine." Bereit assured. He then took his coat off, and rolled it up to make it into a makeshift pillow. "A pillow is all I need." He was left in a simple black tee, lying right down on his coat./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir leaned against the wall with his back sitting up. "I've had my fair share of bedless sleep. This ain't anything new."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Same here." Scharf added. "Though, it's gonna kill my back…"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The others, Fallen, Vanessa, Kurve, Tier and Zelkova were gonna have their first bedless sleep./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It took them a while, but everyone soon went to sleep, preparing themselves for a trek that would rival any another on-foot travel they did. Especially now, since they were heading up a mountain. One none had explored./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Save your game up to this point?/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You know, I just realized something." Vanessa spoke up, her being down in the storage area with Imbir and Scharf. "We've never been to Kalt. And it's a cold and snowy mountain, right? I bet that's where the Shiva Erpel might go." She suggested to the two./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Scharf scoffed gently, putting his sniper rifle to the side, leaning it against the wall after a small inspection. "I doubt it would be /span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emthat /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"predictable. I mean… location, maybe. But I get the feeling it'll be a lot more complex than that."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"True." Vanessa agreed. "If it were that easy to find them, we'd be home by now." It then made her wonder about her home back in Holhen. "Now that I think about home… I wonder how dad is doing…" She then looked at the other two with a curious gaze. "What about you two? Got any family you're thinking about?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Scharf nodded gently. "I'm thinking about my son… and how he's doing." He answered Vanessa, his eyes moving to his sniper rifle. "I wish I could face him right now… but I don't think I can until I have something to show I have some good in me to show him…" His tone seemed sad, which surprised Vanessa and Imbir to the point they looked at each other./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"I'd imagine being shamed by your own son is hard to deal with it." Imbir commented. "I wouldn't know how that feels. But… being shunned for a decision is something I can understand." Imbir, while being vague, did share a little bit of backstory to the ex-assassin and gun-wielding woman. Something… nobody in the party even knew./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Scharf eyed Imbir, leaned back on the wall behind him. "Is that so? Wouldn't happen to be by family, was it?" Scharf asked him./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir shook his head. "A good friend of mine. You remember The General we met back in Holhen, right, Vanessa?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Uhh…" Vanessa went silent for a few seconds. "Oh yeah. That really intimidating lady."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir went silent for a few seconds once more, putting his hands together, his head down as well. "I was to be the next General of Mauer. And… well, I can imagine you guys don't see me as the General type of person."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Fleeing the battlefield, huh? Now that's something I haven't heard in the longest time." Scharf commented. "At least it's an honest reason. I'd rather be a mercenary than some Queen's little pet."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Hey." Imbir said, sounding a bit upset by what Scharf said. "She may be under the Queen of Mauer's orders, but she is not her pet. She's there because I wasn't willing to be a General. I owe her for taking my place."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"She took your place?" Vanessa asked with her head tilted a bit. "Were you guys friends before?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Imbir nodded again. "Like you always hear in books, she was my only friend. I wasn't exactly a social kid. A wallflower, you may call someone like I was. My parents were pretty protective of me. Kept me near the house all the time, warned me of strangers and all of that. I grew up thinking everyone was out to get me. Then… Ersetzen came in and said those words."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emWhy do your parents hold you back so much?" /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Those words echoed in his head, the single sentence that changed his perspective on a lot. A whole lot./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"How did she know?" Vanessa asked. "About them keeping you close to home and all that?"/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Turns out, she's been stealing from our house. And anybody else near it." Imbir explained to Vanessa. "I was pretty shocked to find that out months later when we finally became friends that she stole from my family. But… that was my first experience of realizing my morals. What I found right. And what I found wrong."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Vanessa and Scharf were pretty surprised to get this deep into Imbir's past. It was… well, they didn't know what to think just yet. His story wasn't quite done yet./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"What did I find right? Letting have some of our food. She was poor. Alone. Forced to survive through crime." Imbir informed the two, his eyes still remaining locked onto his hands, clenching them a bit. "At that point, our friendship was secretly kept between us and nobody else. All the way until the very day she was caught. Her sentence was pretty high, but I saved up enough cash to pay her fine. If not having done years of work."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"And then we fast forward to you leaving the position as General, for her to take her place." Scharf pieced together. "So this was more of her getting even with you. Saving you from a metaphorical prison."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Essentially, yes." Imbir confirmed with a gentle nod. He then sighed. "Sorry I went on like that."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"No, no. It's totally fine, Imbir." Vanessa assured with a shake of her black haired head. "If anything… I'm happy to get to know you a little better." Vanessa added, leaning forward a bit. "You were total mystery to the entire group, if I'm being honest."/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Was I?" Imbir asked, not realizing that up until now./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Both nodded his way./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Wow… I guess I never noticed. We all are frankly mysteries to each other, aren't we? I doubt we /span/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"emtruly /em/span/spanspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"know each other." Imbir pointed out./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"I suppose when this is all over, we can tell each other all about ourselves. Or whenever we have free time." Vanessa suggested with a smile. And a rather uplifting one at that./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Perhaps. I… rather look forward to it, honestly." Imbir stated, having a faint smile on his face./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"There was a static noise that made the three gun wielders curl up from the ear-piercing pitch of it, coming from the speaker./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Oi, this is your captain speaking." Cid spoke through the speaker. "We're heading to Kalt. If our suspicions are correct, we can find Shiva there. A bit of a stretch, but we don't have much in terms of options. And the locals can probably lead us to the right direction. And maybe to some warmer attire. So I suggest you get ready for some sweat freezing temperatures." The speaker soon cut./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Well… guess we better get ready." Scharf stated, standing right up, putting his sniper on his back, after tightening the strap around his upper torso./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"Both Vanessa and Imbir nodded, as they got up and left the storage room. But Vanessa was left with a sense of attachment towards Imbir. As if learning his past drew her to a closer feeling towards him. It was an odd feeling, but a good one in the end./span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongKALT/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongRecommended levels: 20 to 30 (Current average party level: 26)/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-style: normal;"strongCold Conditions/strong/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"On the very edge of Kalt, Cid landed the airship right on the solid ground of the land. It was good he noticed the difference from the icy plates, otherwise their airship would have sunk down into the coldest depths of the ocean./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The party left the airship, all being immediately hit with the cold bite of the winds of Kalt. It was clear to see that Bereit was not used to the cold at all, given he was already shivering. As was Fallen, Vanessa and Kurve./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Dear lord! This place is freezing!" Vanessa shouted. "This is ridiculous!"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Come on. Let's just find a nearby village or something, and we can probably get some fur coats. Cid said there's one just up ahead…" Bereit informed those among the party who didn't know. But… the sight of the uphill path, along with the swirling clouds at the very top of the mountains, it left the party with more than a chill down their spine. Their whole bodies./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The sound of fire came from behind them, as they all turned to look at Kurve, having a ball of fire over his hands. "It's not much… but it'll hopefully keep us warm." Kurve explained to them sheepishly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It then popped into Bereit's head that he could use his fire as well. He felt silly for forgetting he could do that. He stepped to Kurve's side, as he lent his fire, as it made the fire stronger. "Here, let me help."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That's very kind of you." Zelkova spoke to Kurve, along with Bereit's assistance with a smile on his face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, thank you Bereit." Kurve told him./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Good thing we've got some mages who can use fire." Tier said, as she stuck close to Bereit's side./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The entire party stood close to Kurve and Bereit, clinging to that little warmth. And with that, they began to make their way up the cold and harsh path. Surprisingly enough, the path up wasn't all that bad, save it for the harsh cold. The party assumed this would be the point where monsters would come out and attack. Little did the party know what the real reason was./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It took them a bit of time, with Bereit and Kurve holding on to the little flame that would keep the party going, they finally came to a small town, just below the very beginning of the gigantic mountain behind it. Well, what could be seen, giving the huge wall of cold wind that was ever so close to the town./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh my god." Fallen said in shock, seeing what was presented to them. "Guys, I don't think this normal." She told them. "The next Erpel has got to be up that mountain."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Damn right this ain't normal." A rather tough female voice spoke up. The party looked towards the voice, seeing another of one of those lion-like people. But this one's fur was pure black, with, strangely enough, a few shades lighter fur coat that matched with her thick cotton pants. "Ever since that dragon showed up, that storm just kept getting stronger and stronger."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Well… looks like your suspicions were right after all." Scharf whispered to Vanessa, seeing she was shivering pretty bad./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Oh, right. Strake's the name." She introduced herself, with a big grin. "Come, I'll take ya to my house. We can discuss… whatever's going on somewhere actually warm." She offered, looking at some of the shivering party members./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Please." Kurve begged./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake motioned her head. "Come." She offered the party, as they would follow the lion-like being./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"She's pretty quick to assume we're here to help." Tier pointed out, whispering to anybody that would listen./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Let's just hear her out." Bereit insisted./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The entire party walked down the clear snowy path that gave the town their road and every which way that lead to more homes. They would also see some of the residence who were outdoors, people in thick fur coats and mittens. While some were looking at the ever approaching storm. What could be their potential doom./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It left a few of the party members with thoughts about some of the residence being potential victims, or if there already were some. Seemed like a cruel way to die. In such a cold and brutal storm./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The party was soon brought to Strake's house. Her house was one of the smaller few of the town. It was in a triangular shape, with a few hanging pelts over the windows. Makeshift curtains, perhaps./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"After kicking away a bit of snow from the front of the door, she waved her hand towards the inside once she opened it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"One by one, they walked in, Kurve being the first to thank Strake as he walked by./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"A nice, warm fireplace, with a nice big bedroll, and a stove. And all in one room. A rather small house indeed./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Not exactly suited for eight people." Scharf commented, sitting right down./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Barely works for me, if I'm being honest. Not a big fan of tight spaces, but it's a home." Strake remarked, with her claws on her hips. She then walked up to the fireplace, gently poking it to help the fire stay. "So, I wouldn't exactly say you guys are what I expect to be our town's saviors. But beggars can't be choosers."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"You… know of us?" Tier asked Strake./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake nodded. "A group of warriors going around and killing these dragons that are reeking havoc? How do you not hear of such a thing? Though, it sure took us a while for us to learn of it."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense." Bereit agreed. "I'm just glad it's positive." He sat down and crossed his legs, looking at everyone for a moment, with a slight smile on his face. It then reminded him about how unprepared they were for their trek up the mountain. "Oh, by the way," Bereit spoke up, looking at Strake. "You know where we can get any fur coats? We're gonna need them to head up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake scoffed. "You're gonna need more than just a coat." She informed him. "With such a huge storm, and not knowing where to go without a map, you're all gonna freeze to death out there. If the monsters don't get you first."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That is true." Imbir agreed. "And we can't just use our airship. I have no doubt there isn't a place to land up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Exactly." Strake said, as she looked out the window, looking at the fur pelt that covered it. "Which means you're gonna need an escort. Someone to bring you to the top." Strake was silent for a few seconds, before she turned around, with a proud smile on her lion-like face. "Hope you've got room for one more in your little group."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"We've got a lot of room." Bereit replied, having a bigger smile on his face. "Glad to know we've got an escort."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Though, we're pretty exhausted after our last battle with the last Erpel we fought…" Vanessa spoke up, sitting right next to the fire. "Should we rest for a while before we head up?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"That would be a wise idea." Zelkova agreed. "We may not have proper beds, but the warmth of the building will be more than enough."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Strake sighed. "Damn, I wish I could have prepared some bedrolls for you all. I'm sorry." She apologized, hanging her head low a little./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It's fine." Bereit assured. He then took his coat off, and rolled it up to make it into a makeshift pillow. "A pillow is all I need." He was left in a simple black tee, lying right down on his coat./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir leaned against the wall with his back sitting up. "I've had my fair share of bedless sleep. This ain't anything new."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Same here." Scharf added. "Though, it's gonna kill my back…"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"The others, Fallen, Vanessa, Kurve, Tier and Zelkova were gonna have their first bedless sleep./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"It took them a while, but everyone soon went to sleep, preparing themselves for a trek that would rival any another on-foot travel they did. Especially now, since they were heading up a mountain. One none had explored./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Save your game up to this point?/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No/span/span/p