Scene #4652: The Frozen Passage

Owner	Pose
Duet Fortuna	Duet had mentioned last night that it was 'very cold' and... she was actually exaggerating HOW cold, as this isn't truly the Arctic Circle. It is really damn cold though. It just isn't so bad that there isn't a town here, much like a whaling town or the like, but it's a fairly large town with general store and warehouses, including a dock for ships. Fortunately, the group isn't arriving via ship. A small warpgate has been constructed in the last few weeks... but 'small' is not an exaggeration. Enough for a couple people abreast, it isn't really set up for large cargo or ships. This means good and bad things! One: Duet managed to get some snowmobiles! Two: The snowmobiles don't work so they're using dogsleds anyway. Drake Wightseer, whom some may recognize, is waiting for those who come through the gate. His missing arm has been replaced by a simple prosthetic, so simple even the heavy coat can't hide the stiffness in it. Psyber and Mordred he... well he doesn't /ignore/ them, he's just trying to jump into business. "Thank you for coming, everyone." He gestures with his good arm, motioning into a nearby warehouse that is somewhat warmer than the bitter cold of the snowstruck town. It lets him pull his scarf down with a huff. "I'm here for the Empress. Er... you could call it a work release, if you're curious. I'm stuck here for right now handling the fallout." Sigh. He's for the moment waiting for others to show up, but if anyone doesn't have a copy of the whole situation, he'll pass one out. The gist of it is, no less than seven explorer parties have vanished with no word, not even magical relay. The latest one was close enough at the time of contact lost that it would make a good base camp for figuring out what's happening, if it's investigated.
Guest Psyber	Psyber is here! Normally, he'd be remaining in close proximity to Duet Fortuna. And that's more or less what he does for the most part, particularly for the dog sled rides and everything. Once they arrive through the gate, though, he's going to part ways with her for a few moments. He's wearing a somewhat heavy mid-length coat with a ruby-red scarf around his neck. He has some gloves on. The gloves are important because, if Drake is going to avoid engaging himself and Mordred, Psyber isn't going to press the point. Instead, he'll occupy himself other ways. WHOOSH! It's about 20 seconds before a fist-sized snowball is flying towards the back of Mordred's head, wherever she may be. If she's materialized.
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi Houken is from Japan. She's capable of handling cold, with the right clothes. Sure, it's out of season for said clothes just yet, so she had to dig them out, but she can handle it once she has them! Regardless, she is here, and riding on the TIGER as she arrives. And as usual, she's not really appraised of the situation at all - mostly she's here because Psyber is here. Although, for once, she'd shown some degree of curiosity even before the half-angel suggested she come along. She's starting to go out on her own initiative more, these days. Nonetheless, it means she takes one of those copies of the situation report, which she reads over with a faint frown. "...so many people missing..." she murmurs to herself. Taiga, meanwhile, is already ambling over (with her on his back) to investigate the sleds. After a short while of this, he turns and speaks to Wightseer. "Would it be possible to adapt one of these sleds so that I can pull it? It would be easier on my user than riding me through the snow, and also would allow you to spare some of your sled dogs in case they're needed."
Mordred	Mordred is absolutely materialized. She's commandeered one of the dog sleds for herself, and with a little bit of abuse of Riding and Mana Burst has been pulling off stunts somewhere off to the side no one should ever be able to pull off with dogs, a sled, or the combined product thereof. Like loops, on thin air. It's more like backflips than loops, really. It's certainly one way to pass time and not be in Drake's proximity, which could no doubt start a fight given Mordred's inability to keep her mouth shut when it happens. Incidently: she's wearing regal red and gold clothes. Pants, long-sleeved royal shirt with the Pendragon crest over one breast. Given her build she really could pass off as a prince like this. Or at least she could until she eats a snowball to the back of the head, gets knocked off her sled into the snow, and immediatly starts screeching in Psyber's general direction. And then hurls a snowball right back at him. It's glowing red. That's Mana Burst and a temper for you. Luckily, this is Psyber, it may as well be a regular snowball.
Nort and Scar	The answer to Nozomi's question comes from the next person through the gate. An armored man riding a giant cyborg wolverine... which is the best summary possible here. The 'armor' is power armor, with a glowing visor and various alloys and attachments, while the wolverine's fur is thick and heavy enough that he doesn't seem to care about the cold. A loud snort from the twenty foot long mustellid, and the rider hops off to answer, "I can probably do that if you want..." Or, well, starts to. Seeing what TIGER is, he pauses and stares for a long moment. "Is this thing subservient to you?" That's to Nozomi, specifically, gesturing at TIGER. Scar, the wolverine, rumbles deeply, "Haven't seen snow like this in a long time."
Kyra Hyral	Kyra Hyral had taken the cold warnings seriously. She's wearing her 'winter gear' which is more specifically her 'mission in Shiva' gear that she's had in storage for months now since the Shivan war had ended. Rather than a hoodie, she wears a big puffy white jacket with a furred hood. She has pants on instead of her skirt-but her boots are still exactly the same, being pretty good for walking in snow already. She also has a set of goggles. Never know when there might be a blizzard! With that amount of missing people, Kyra has to assume predation is to blame, and where there might be predation, there might even be a person responsible for it. She gives Duet a subtle nod when she does arrive-clearly she is here for scouting because there had been no mention of arrangements or having spoken with Anne beforehand.
Guest Psyber	Over in 'Faffing About Land', Psyber gets smacked in the chest by the snowball from Mordred. The combined speed and the force actually manage to, physics be damned, lift Psyber off his feet and set him down again as he skids backwards across the ground, boots scrambling for purchase before he dusts the snow off the front of his coat. "Tch! I won't be outdone, Mordred!" Psyber points and shouts to her, a gloved finger making an accusation and a challenge. This is on the verge of transitioning from Snowball Fight into Snowball Military Action. Psyber braces a hand on the ground and then dashes in towards Mordred, moving at superhuman speed. His retaliation is to use the forward run to scoop up a mammoth amount of snow and try to get into point-blank range before whipping a shovelful at her.
Duet Fortuna	Sooo.... Psyber and Mordred are getting into a snowball fight. Sigh. Duet just puts her head in her hands, then tries to focus on Drake. "Thank you for the information. I suspect it may be a Twisted animal or other wild beast, so I brought an expert in the field I recruited from the Syndicate." She gestures toward the gate. Drake stares at the snowball fight, then turns and answers, "If you want, that would save worry about the dogs. Getting them here was hard enough, and I worry about the cold even if this is the way things are done here, I guess. I..." He trails off for a second, apparently startled at Scar, then shakes his head. "Right. The last camp is to the northwest. The icemelts have made things pretty treacherous, but I'm sure they at least marked out a path that should be safe. I won't be going with you because I have to handle the politics of this whole mess. That's why we're sending you." While he's talking, he is passing out thermoses full of hot chocolate to anyone who wants it. He's glad people are actually dressing warmly like they were warned.
Kyra Hyral	While Psyber and Mordred are deep into a very superpowered snowball fight, Kyra quite subtly stoops down and scoops up a handful of snow. She rolls it between her gloved hands-yes, she wore /gloves/ too. Snow is terrible and the poor little Ramuh city girl would never want to actually live in it like those crazy Shivans. So gloves it is! Which makes it ideal for her to pull together a snowball. She waits, ever the opportunist, though slightly intimidated as each start using their abilities to escalate the snowball fight in ways Kyra really couldn't keep up to. Nevertheless, she's not completely deterred and hurls a snowball at Psyber's back. Then she quickly turns around, pretending that she has no part in the battle, calmly accepting a mug of hot chocolate from Drake while listening to his briefing.
Mordred	"No, -I- won't be outdone! You should have learned to snowball fight in angel school instead of going all rogue angel on Heaven!" Melee is absolutely cheating, though. The giant snowball slams into Mordred with a thunderous impact. Certainly Drake can appreciate all that fury isn't being directed at him this time, and Duet can appreciate... that they're... getting along? Yeah let's go with that. Tumbling back, face-first into the snow, Mordred rises and produces Clarent, in a flash of red and blue light. The beautiful silver blade plants itself into the snow, and Mordred points at Psyber to taunt him. "Bitch when we're done they'll have to find a new definition for 'snowball fight' for fear it'll forever be too underwhelming!" Then Kyra throws a snowball at Psyber. Mordred is not deterred by this. She swings Clarent upward, wind and lightning picking up. It sends a wave towards Psyber, harmless, but it splits the snow around him open like it's the Red Sea. Predictably this does not last and it all comes crashing right back down afterwards. This is arguably not a snowball at all.
Nozomi Houken	Someone is addressing Taiga from behind them. Both robocat and user turn as one, the latter going completely and totally stiff with quiet alarm for a few moments. Oh god that thing is huge. And the rider is huge. And... and... huge. It ends up being Taiga who answers. "That is correct. I am TIGER. This is my user, Nozomi Houken." Nozomi offers what looks like it might be a wave if there were less nervousness to it, only to have a container held out to her. She takes the thermos from Drake with her usual mild trepidation for people she doesn't know very well; but after examining it curiously and then opening it, she looks back up at him with a wide-eyed expression. Drake may have just made a new friend. In the meantime, Taiga ambles over to the nearest sled and sits down precisely where the sled dogs would be strapped in, as if it were the most natural place in the world for him to be. And then he simply stares at Nort, silently, expectantly. Well?
Nort and Scar	"Hmn..." Nort eyes Nozomi, or at least it looks that way. The visor makes it hard to be sure. He /is/ a pretty huge guy, but when he moves over to Taiga he drops down to one knee and begins making adjustments in a quick and professional manner. Scar snorts dismissively about it, waiting for Nort to finish while the others are messing around. He'll watch the fight, that should be interesting. Figuring Nozomi and the others should at least know why he was so grumpy about it. "I'm not a big fan of self-aware robots," he explains. "More trouble than they're worth, usually." Kind of insulting, but he adjusts the harness to sit tight on Taiga, and even avoids any joints or the like, just like a real cat. "That should hold fine. We ready to go?" Oh right. He should introduce himself to Kyra and Nozomi. "Nort. This is my companion, Scar. We're here because Miss Fortuna there asked for an 'animal specialist' of some kind."
Guest Psyber	"Oh I'll show you a snowmageddon!" Psyber calls back to her as they go at eachother and Mordred calls out to him with her blade in the snow. Psyber brings up his hands, ready to parry whatever snowball she might throw at him using that blade. There's a moment's distraction as a snowball hits him square in the back. It was thrown by Kyra, who tries to avoid being noticed. Psyber whips around and looks over the non-participants, trying to figure out who among them would dare be brave enough to think they could throw a snowball at him without retaliation. Without feeling retribution. There's only one person, he thinks, who would be so confident in herself as to believe she is beyond his ability to retaliate against. So Psyber quickly whips his hand down, packs a snowball and sends it flying at this obvious candidate, trying to bean her in the side of the head. (It's Duet Fortuna.) Of course, this victory only lasted a moment and then the snowy landscape around him parts and a violent wind pushes Psyber back. The half-angel only has a moment to react with, "Wh-" Before tons of snow come crashing down around him, covering the half-angel and burying him beneath the white waves of icy assault. What's left where he used to be is a colossal mountain of snow that he is trapped under. And it seems Mordred has won. But the mountain shakes a few moments later. And then the entire mountain of snow flies upwards in a single clump, leaving Psyber in a shallow pit from the force of his upward punch to send it flying, "You wanna see what I learned about snowball fighting in angel school?!" Psyber crouches and then leaps, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Psyber's leap carries him above the goliath pile of snow in the air as his wings sprout from his back, "Angelic Technique! SIN-PURGING BLIZZARD!" As he slams both hands into the snow, his wings whip once, creating a huge funnel of wind that tries to gather all the snow in the air and send it down towards Mordred in what can only be described as a crazy finisher move. Psyber hangs in the air a few moments longer before his wings vanish and he falls. He hits the snow on his back with a THUMP and mostly just lays there for a bit, trying to catch his breath.
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi very nearly wilts under the scrutiny. She is not a very forward one. "U-um...?" Taiga, meanwhile, does not seem bothered. "An understandable stance, given the behavior of sapient robots in certain worlds of the Multiverse. However, I assure you, I have no designs on world domination, nor homicidal distaste towards meatbags." What. "It's too much work. I am content to protect my user and serve my purpose." With the hitching done, the TIGER is quite content simply to wait. Nozomi, on the other hand, is watching Mordred pull out her magical supersword and Psyber call on the power of Heaven to... sling snow at each other. Quite wisely, she decides to seek shelter behind someone. Congratulations, Nort, you are now Nozomi's shield against snow.
Duet Fortuna	Drake salutes Duet and COMPLETELY IGNORES Psyber and Mordred's fight. "Good luck, miss. And the rest of you. Let's hope it isn't the dragon or something." He's certainly not going to go find out! Duet sighs, turning around, "All right, it look like-" PLAFF! Snow tumbles off her mask and face with a sputter, and the young woman wipes it off slowly. She glowers at Mordred and Psyber for a long moment, then just points to the sled.
Mordred	Oh damnit he's quoting the Bible. Mordred braces, and may or may not cheat by invoking a sliver of the Shajem of Rage's flames to shield herself. This doesn't work entirely as planned because Psyber whips up a real blizzard and the snow doesn't melt fast enough. The wind is also dimming the flames! Somewhere along the line this stopped being a snowball fight, and it's possible that somewhere was 'basically round two'. Half-buried in snow and now grumpy, Mordred shakes the powder off her, apparently ready to keep going when Duet turns and glares at both of them. In a display of true maturity, Mordred drops her sword and points at Psyber, indicating 'he did it'. Or maybe 'he started it'. It's partially true! She's almost forgotten they came here to DO something.
Guest Psyber	"Tsk. Awr." Psyber flails a bit as he sits up and gets glared at by Duet. He knows not to push this one or he'll be sleeping on his own couch tonight. So when Mordred puts the blame on him, Psyber just looks sideways at her and sticks his tongue out before starting to head to the dogsled that she's pointing at. He's cooperating, but it's pretty obvious that he's sulking about getting scolded, since he sorta stomp-shuffles his way through the snow to the sled so that he can get ready to go. He's not objecting or saying much of anything for the time being. This also means he's not complaining about how cold he is after Mordred buried him in snow and drenched him to the bone. He fixes his scarf as he sulk-walks.
Nort and Scar	Nort climbs up onto Scar's saddle, the power armor locking into place with a faint hum. The faint flicker of a force field shimmers around the pair, and Nort offers, "Scar can carry one more if necessary. He doesn't mind." Looks like he actually wants to get moving. Or maybe behind that mask he's laughing. Who knows? Taiga's comment certainly wasn't greeted with any mirth. "Can anyone tell me a little about the fauna we should be encountering? I heard the word Dragon said. I'm mostly aware of normal, nonmagical animals like bears, cats, dogs, yexils, that sort of thing, and reasonable mutations thereof. Like Scar here." He pats the giant cyborg wolverine's side.
Kyra Hyral	Were this a Tales of _____ game, Kyra would have probably earned a title for that wonderful bit of misdirection. She bites the side of her lip when Duet takes the fall for the snowball pitched at Psyber. She does back away quite quickly when the fight escalates to blizzard levels, putting her goggles over her eyes. "Hello Nort, hello Scar, nice to meet you." Kyra says pleasantly, giving a thumbs up. "My name is Kyra and I'm here to be the healing support." She grins further, "I'm training to be a doctor, you know!" With that, she heads for one of the sleds.
Nort and Scar	Scar snorts again, but Nort actually just sets the wolverine ambling along. He's the one who speaks, in a still mellow voice despite all the horseplay. "Doctor, eh? Where are you going to school? I had a friend or two in that field..." he trails off, then he gets down to real business. "I doubt the culprit is a wild animal," he says. "Multiple camps over a long period of time with no survivors? Sounds like something organized." Scar rumble. "Unless you have intelligent animals in this world."
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi is left without her shield, but the snowball fight is over. Naturally, she takes this as a perfect time to scramble into her own sled, and Taiga subsequently gets himself moving. Somehow, he manages to make it look very nearly lazy. And yet they move at a fair pace, once the group gets up to speed. She doesn't have anything to offer to the speculation; she knows this area about as well as Nort, so she's fine with listening in for now. Scar makes a very good point, though. This could be /thinking/ predators.
Duet Fortuna	Duet is sighing and rubbing her head. Only now setting out, and the group is in a weird state! "Thank you, Wightseer. We'll do our best." She gives a casual wave to him before the group sets out. To Nort, "Very rarely are animals intelligent. Dragons, yes, but that's a different matter. There are stories about such things, so it wouldn't be impossible, but even our gods are mostly not sapient here. It's all about humanity, for good or ill. Sometimes a Shajem-corrupted creature will show signs of intelligence, but they're malevolent so we have to eliminate them." She glances at Kyra, then shuffles aside to make room for the healer and Nozomi. The way is indeed marked, though. Small but brightly-colored flags are tucked into the snow and earth, marking a winding but safe path that lacks any of the weakened ice below. Duet has to point out, "This area is a lot warmer than it should be for this time of year. Possibly a side effect of the rebound Shajem, or possibly coincidence."
Kyra Hyral	"Yep! I'm going to be going to trade school soon, just as soon as I graduate from...well I think most worlds call it high school." Kyra asides to Nort, "You...um..." she pauses, caught off guard by his words that seem to implied that something really /bad/ happened to his friend. Though Nort seems to be on the right track about what the culprit is for all the disappearance. "So it's definitely some kind of /person/. Or persons, if we're having whole groups disappear." Kyra comments, settling on the sled next to Duet.
Mordred	Mordred counter-sticks her tongue out at Psyber. It's a fierce war. Eventually she falls back into line, walking after Duet as the group finally stops messing around and heads forward. Dragon! There's a dragon to kill, that's right. Or loot. Either way, it's a win. She seems unconcerned by the weather being unusual, or the danger of straying from the path and ending up on ice. She's firmly set her mind on the dragon now, and anticipates the fight greatly. Her huge grin more or less says so. "So, who's our new friend and why's he look like he belongs in a movie about time-travelling robots from the future?" she asks, gesturing towards Nort, having evidently been too busy messing around to pay attention to introductions.
Guest Psyber	Psyber is hanging out on whatever sled Duet is riding on and trying to both dry himself off and stop sulking. Eventually, though, he settles in and smokes a cigarette as they sled along the path and it's marked with flags. I dunno, Duet. Climate change sounds like a myth purported by the Illuvia Agenda to stifle industry and regulate big business." Psyber wags his cigarette at her, "We need to go back to the day of Emperor DeservesToBeStabbed and his unchecked expansion of Big Business and Noble Endeavors." Psyber flicks some ash over the side of the sled. All snow rivalry with Mordred aside, he seems to settle down quickly. They've always gotten along well. "Oh yeah." He looks towards Nort, "Welcome to Terra Majora. This world is pretty messed up. Less so than it used to be, but you know."
Nort and Scar	Eh, it's fine. Nort can say it again. "Nort. This is Scar." He pats the wolverine loping alongside the sleds. "And I look this way because I'm a time-travelling robot from the future, sent here to avert a terrible timeline where everyone dies of a genetically-engineered virus that Miss Hyral develops. I'm sorry, there's no time to explain." There's a beat. As soon as everyone has processed that, he corrects, "I'm just wearing armor. I'm actually just a zoologist from a post-apocolyptic world several centuries advanced from many of the worlds I see here. Kind of refreshing to be able to say that and people understand." He resumes talking to Kyra, "Good for you. I don't have much faith in humanity, but I can respect a healer." He switches topics. "I'm not really used to magic though. It's all science where I'm from."
Nozomi Houken	The look Nozomi gives Nort, suggests that she was completely taken in by that 'explanation'. Then he tells the truth and... is she relieved? Disappointed? It's hard to say. From up in front of the sled, however, Taiga has a reply. "The two are not mutually incompatible in every world. Many, certainly, but not every. I myself am a product of melding principles of magic with cutting-edge technology."
Kyra Hyral	Kyra quickly reaches for her gun. This is the multiverse. She fully believes that there's a timeline out there where that happens. "Magic /is/ science." Kyra says with confusion. "On my world, they are pretty much one and the same."
Duet Fortuna	Duet stares at Nort for a long moment, then laughs! "Okay, I didn't expect a sense of humor like that!" She shakes her head and grips the edge of the sled, to wrap her scarf tighter. Just to give a little comfort to the others on the sled, she raises the temperature a few degrees. It actually isn't /too/ long before the base camp is in sight, and why it's called base camp! The terrain is getting rough, and mountainous. It's probably a good idea to set up a good base here. It's pretty harsh on foot, too. The dogs - and presumably, Taiga - slow down before the actual camp, which has a number of very solid-looking 'tents' about. One of them appears to have collapsed, largely due to a buildup of snowfall. Otherwise it looks... fairly peaceful? There's no fire going, or anything, but then there doesn't appear to be a firepit. Just a large central dome tent, and a half-dozen smaller ones that look like large two-man tents akin to a military encampment.
Mordred	"If you need that sort of armor to deal with critters in a zoo, I want to visit one of your zoos. Like, right now," Mordred answers Nort, before she inspects Scar. "I could buy the time travel excuse though. I'm technically from the past myself. And I don't mean my world's in the past, I mean Grail Wars are weird." At least Servants don't have to deal with being displaced and confused, thank god. "So your mount wears armor and cybernetics because...?" Oh, that's a camp ahead. Neat. She turns to look at Duet. "You promised me a dragon, dead or alive. Are we there yet?"
Guest Psyber	Psyber looks concerned for a few moments and then begins laughing, "Holy shit, dude! Is that an Eliminator reference? That's classy! CLASSY!" Psyber would be punching Nort in the shoulder, but that's impolite, "Ten cool points for you, man." And then they arrive at the base camp! Psyber hops out and starts looking around. The first thing he's going to do, as any good investigator, is look for signs of a scuffle.
Nozomi Houken	Taiga does stop - but probably a bit closer to the camp than the dogs. Cat does not want to have to move very far once he's unharnessed, or if-and-when they reharness him. So there's some convenience. When Nozomi steps off the sled, she moves up to unbuckle the mechatiger before proceeding; she wants her protective murderbot by her side, even if this place is supposed to be abandoned. She'll have a look around one of the smaller tents, while Taiga turns his supernatural sensor suite up to maximum resolution to get the best scan he can of the camp.
Nort and Scar	"That would explain the Arthurian reference," Nort says to Mordred. "I have to admit that I just thought someone had an odd sense of naming. Though in my world the name Mordred is synonimous with 'traitor' in many ways. Or... it was. Most people aren't all that well read on Arthurian Myth as they used to be." He doesn't answer the other questions until camp is reached. Sliding off Scar, he pats the wolverine on the side, sending Scar off with Taiga to take a look around. "I'm not detecting any cybernetic lifeforms... but then, I wouldn't, here." He then gets to answering the others. "I forgot where that reference came from. It's been... a long time. No, my world generally doesn't have zoos any more, it's mostly untamed wilderness. I live in an area ruled by intelligent animals, though. To the north we also have an army of cyborgs and robots if you want to take care of them for me. That's where we got these cybernetics." He pauses, then adds, "Unwillingly."
Nozomi Houken	Watching Taiga do his scans is a curious process - it looks every bit like a robotic tiger scenting the air, looking around, and swinging his ears this way and that as if listening to sounds no one else can hear. After a little while, the robot turns; he speaks to Scar, but does so loud enough for everyone to hear. "I can confirm the presence of residual supernatural energies. Whatever happened here, it involved magic in /some/ way. Unfortunately, the traces are so faint that my sensors can discern no more than that. At the very least, we are in no immediate danger." Having so declared, he shifts his sensors again, going into a wider-ranged 'passive mode' that should be able to pick up any incoming threats for dozens of miles around. And then continues wandering alongside Scar for lack of anything better to do.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra continues to keep her hand close to her gun. She doesn't know Scar or Nort that well! They might be serious about all that stuff! But she seems to keep herself much more subtle about her on-edge feelings for the moment, watching the cybernetic wolverine pad off after Taiga. Cute pair, Kyra thinks. Their human companions would make a cute pair too, Kyra realizes. She hops off of the sled and starts to look around the base camp. "She didn't say it WAS a dragon, that it COULD be a dragon, Mordred." Kyra suddenly speaks up. "I still think that it's probably a band of maurauders. Or maybe even a horde of undead-or whatever might be the equivalent here."
Duet Fortuna	Duet is hopping off and brushing herself off. "Mn... I'm not a tracker by any means. Though I don't think we'll be seeing a dragon /tonight/ Mordred, dead or alive. We'd have to go further along the camps for that. Unless we get lucky and he swoops in enraged about the climate change talk." Kyra's theory about undead is something she frowns at. "We'll have to see how much of a struggle there was... but undead aren't unknown. After all, the current Emperor comes from a long line of necromancers, not that he seems to practice it himself." She drums her fingers on her hip. "I'd have expected a wrecked camp."
Guest Psyber	"Look! I'm just asking questions!" Psyber throws up his hands as he looks around the camp for clues or signs of a struggle like he has been, "We spend all these years, never hear about climate change. Never a word. We get a new Emperor in office, all of a sudden we have to regulate Big Shajem! All of a sudden it's a threat to all of us. This isn't even going to punish Big Shajem, you're just going to destroy Small Shajem and then we'll prove it's not even real." The tone he's taking strongly suggests this is not a debate he even remotely believes, "This place looks pretty benign. I'm not sure what happened here."
Nort and Scar	Nort is lingering nearby, letting Scar investigate while he scans the horizon. The wolverine is sort of slogging through the snow, only pausing when Taiga comes to join him. He gives the robot a funny look, grunting and allowing it out of what little diplomacy he has. He's looking for tracks, personally. Scar finds them, too. Apparently. As he plods along with Taiga, he pauses, then turns and changes direction to find a furrow in the snow. Staring at it for a long time, he lifts head slowly to follow the trail. "That's very strange..." the wolverine finally speaks, sounding less grumpy and more intellectual suddenly. "Someone else come over here. I found tracks, but not of predators."
Nozomi Houken	"Hm?" They found something? Well, it beats what Nozomi was doing before - she's been poking around one of the small tents, but she's... she's not exactly an investigator, so it will have amounted to little more than 'looking at all the stuff they left in there'. This sounds much more fruitful, so it's not long before Scar and Taiga are joined by not-exactly-an-investigator.
Duet Fortuna	The tents do have stuff in them... INCLUDING spare weapons and supplies. It appears that there are no signs of battle, but that the typical weapons the individuals used were gone. But food and drink and the like? It's still here. "Interesting..." Duet is murmuring. But anyone who goes to look at what Scar has found will figure it out pretty quickly what the strange part is. The snow has hidden some of the tracks, but it's pretty easy, now that they've been found, to see that the entire camp just... stood up and walked to the northeast, a completely different direction than where they were going.