It was cold. As her boots crunched in the freshly fallen snow, Shiloh wrapped her arms around herself tighter. A week ago there was a sudden change in the weather when a freak cold snap started to blow in from the southern coast of Adeluna. Everyone expected it to peter out  after a few days, until it didn't. Thinking it was a coastal thing, she soon learned the same weather patterns were hitting cities all over the continent with the changes taking place around the same time. By now she had realized it was no ordinary storm, and that something had to be done before the Nyella itself would begin to freeze over. Scholars and wise men discovered the presence of a massive conduit of energy pouring from a frozen island far to the south, fueling the blizzards and snowstorms. With no time to waste, she had set her course to the coordinates and was now making the long march to the heart of the problem.

She hated the cold, and had never liked winter. And she wasn't going to put with Glaciem in Turbedo. Time seemed to crawl as she progressed across the white landscape, always moving forward towards the icy gusts of air whipping through the island. She had used a mask to keep the biting winds and frost away from her face, but didn't want to wear it for too long. Frostbite was still a very present danger regardless of protection. By the time her legs started going stiff, she came upon the accursed Vault. As soon as it came into her sights, it was as if the ambient temperature took a nosedive beyond that she had went through to get here. It was a chill that went deep into your bones, even if your skin felt like ice and your joints as if they were rusted. There was something about the black iron doors and sculpted dragons that unsettled her to her core. Without a shred of doubt, she knew the polar vortex's origins were in there. Desperate to get out of being exposed to the elements, she rammed her shoulder against the left door and pushed until it gave.

Slipping inside through the opening, she exhaled a sigh of relief only to realize inside was no warmer. Frigid gales that felt like they were filleting your skin into ribbons were absent, but that was the only improvement. The halls were a grim and macabre display of scales, ice, and the bones of dead creatures. Teeth chattering in the stony silence, Shiloh pulled out her special 'eyeglass' and held it before her left eye, closing her right. Immediately parts of the floor and walls became highlighted, revealing pressure sensitive tiles and spear traps in holes obscured by the poor lighting. She then checked the surrounding area again with her right eye, and made a mental note of which path was safest. As far as she could tell, she was alone here. Whether the halls had signs of life further down were beyond her knowledge. So far from the doors to the crossroads of passageways it was just her, and nobody else. With no need to keep her face covered, she removed her mask.

She needed to keep moving. After all, the temperature wasn't getting any higher the longer she waited. She would find whatever–or whoever was causing this climate change and put a stop to this infernal cold.

Adaptation was one of the things Vicyeth was good at. Still dressed in her adventurers tunic with nothing more than a scarf really to keep the cold out she mindlessly ran over the snowy, tripping over a rock every so often and being as noisy as ever. Of course she had noticed the shift in weather and with her healing powers being from druidic origin it did bother her (as far as her intelligence allowed). She had been mindlessly wandering this icy wasteland for a village to warm up in as it turns out a scarf alone did not protect her from the cold. Soon though she saw a large vault like building and immediatly her adventuring skills took over. She rushed to the vault while singing at the top of her lungs. She loudly kicked the door open and rushed inside with little regard for keeping her presence hidden.

The sudden sound of the doors being forced open and the blast of noise following it made Shiloh jump and let out a low shriek. She already had her dagger in her hand when she saw that the source of the sound was some strange-looking airhead who was wearing almost nothing for the cold. "For crying out loud…" she murmured, putting her weapon away. Here she was about ready to make heads roll, while this precious individual had the gall to come in like it was a drinking party. Well at least she wasn't trying to kill her. Keeping a good distance from the new arrival she took out her tinderbox and lit her torch. It wasn't as if she really needed the light; she just wanted a source of heat close to her body to thaw out her hands.

Choosing to ignore the girl and her raucous bawling, she snuck away into the passage she had surveyed earlier avoiding the spear traps and spikes. Every few steps she would pull out her lens to check her bearings, and then move forward. Not exactly the fastest way to progress, but better safe than sorry. And she didn't want to be sorry in a place cold as death. She could tell that she was getting closer by the steady drop in temperature. The bone piles strewn around were increasing in number, and so was the feeling that she was being watched. Her legs were like lead and it was hard to uncurl her fingers, but she didn't feel safe taking a break. Her danger sense was telling her to keep going, or lest she breathe her last. Having put it off for the longest time, she closed her eyes and used her aura sight to scan the area. Sure enough, her instincts were right. Up above were legions of small winged creatures, and she had nearly mistaken them for giant bats until she saw their long tails. She didn't like the look of this. Securing her shield to protect her back, she drew her axe. The sharp point of a sword would be useless here. If anything dared to come at her, she'd start swinging and give them a taste of elven craftsmanship.

Vicyeth first seemingly didnt notice her as she ran head first into a wall. She must have thought it was a door. She continued to be incredibly noisy, the dropping of many metal sounding objects could be heard in the distance. Eventually she ran right past Shiloh singing an annoying song as loud as she could. Her wooly scarf slapped Shiloh briefly when she ran past.. There was a cobblestone loose just ahead wich she tripped over. When she stood up she finally seemed to notice the other presence in the vault and now she finally faced Shiloh. Despite the fact that her face took several pummelings already, she was still in good shape. The oddest thing about her next to her intelligence was her skin color wich was a light blue tint with dark blue rhunic markings on them. "AH! More adventurers? Do you know more of this place? Does it have treasure?"

Shiloh, having no patience for people who weren't willing to learn about the place they were in beforehand, tersely answered the girl's questions in order. "To the first question–no, I do not. To the second one–yes." There was also death in equal amounts, but she didn't particularly care since anybody who had come in here should be fully aware of it by now. The girl's noisiness disturbed the winged little beasts above, and the small wyverns began to dive-bomb like bats. "Tch!" Clicking her tongue, she quickly dropped to the ground and curled up, with her shield on her back facing upward. In a posture resembling a retracted turtle, she waited until wings stopped flapping to get back up. Fumbling around she retrieved her torch, now put out. There would be no point in carrying it in her hand if she had to keep lighting it, so she didn't. Balancing her axe in hand, she continued walking in a different direction to stay away from the other.

She hated noisy things–especially moving noisy things. Shiloh didn't know what the girl was, but she fit both categories. All she cared about was finding someplace warm and quiet. And preferably isolated. The ice in the halls only amplified the sounds in the area which was a strain on her ears.

As the bats hailed down, the girl didnt move. She was a pacifist after all… She did use her tail to bat away some of the creatures coming to her wich annoyed them more than actually hurt them. But what did hurt them was something else. Not the girl and not Shiloh either but some sort of third entity that was inside the girl. As soon as one of them headed straight for Vicyeth who didnt even bother to defend herself some sort of human like shape emerged from the girl. It looked alot like an elder male version of the same species of herself that hurled an amount of fireballs at the creatures. Pretty soon the creatures were a toasted while the girl just mindlessly stared forwards making spit bubbles with her mouth seemingly unaware of the fact an entity that she seemingly carried along wiped out a considerable amount of creatures.

Perhaps it was curiosity, madness, or concern that caused the tiny green druid to grow irritated at the weather. Perhaps it was a touch of all the reasons. The great Gnok Nok was needless going to heed the call of nature. Leaving his cave and horde behind with as much loyalty to his people as a feather falling deep in the wind. The goblin found himself trenching through the snow towards the vault.

He stopped at the gates to take in there size and take a drink from his flask. The tea and fermented berry juice had kept his innerds warm enough but this place offered no comfort of warmth. It was an unnatural cold that seemed to disturb Gnok Nok when he pondered it. Giving his hands and muscles a good stretch to try to shake off the cold he was capable of pulling open the doors and shut them from the other side.

Continuing further, she was forced to stop and rest. The increased energy consumption thanks to her body's effort to keep itself from freezing over left her drained and hungry. Thinking of how much she wanted a bowl of warm hearty soup and some bread to fill her stomach, both items materialized out of thin air beside her. A warm, freshly baked loaf and a medium-sized wooden bowl of soup with a spoon laid on the cold, hard ground. She quickly snatched up the bread and tore into it, wolfing it down before it went cold. She moved onto the soup made with potatoes, carrots, onions, some spices, and chicken broth to wash down the bread she had eaten. Wiping her mouth, she immediately felt much better and less unhappy. She didn't need the bowl or utensil any more, so she left it behind. The frozen halls were difficult to navigate and soon she found herself turned around. Aside from the occasional glaring difference, everything looked about the same. Even her footprints doubled on themselves as she swore there was magic at play. She hated when enchanted places were annoying like that.

She was far from the odd girl now, deep within the serpentine tunnels of the Vault. After walking along by herself, she saw someone shuffling in the distance. A quick scan using her aura sight told her that indeed the figure was among the living, which she was thankful for. Living, breathing people were marginally less dangerous than reanimated corpses, as they had physical limitations and limited stamina. Walking bones didn't feel pain, or need to rest after fighting. Taking a risk, she called out to the person ahead. Her shout echoed down the icy walls, as the person she addressed turned to look behind. At first they began walking slowly, then their pace started to pick up. It was then that Shiloh realized something was very wrong as a grizzled man dressed in furs was charging at full speed, his eyes glazed over with madness and frothing at the mouth. "HRAAAAGHHH!!!" Before the crazed man could swing at her, she leaped into the air planting her feet on the ceiling as he passed beneath, then landed with her dagger and axe at the ready.

He was armed with an axe fashioned from a stone head and bone. There was frost caking his beard and the furs he was wearing, and it was clear that he wasn't right in the head. Growling he spun around and lunged, flailing his weapon like a madman. "IT'S MINE!!! THE TREASURE'S ALL MINE–AND YOU WON'T TAKE IT FROM ME!!!" She dodged his poorly focused attack easily, and sent a kick directly into his stomach. It sent him flying, hitting a pile of bones lying in a heap. "You can keep your stupid treasure, you maniac!" The man groaned from the impact, but she didn't wait to see if he still had more fight in him. Shiloh immediately hightailed out of there, running as fast as her legs could take her. "Good lord, was that one of the people who entered this place before me? Just how long was he trapped in here? He's completely lost his mind!" This was disturbing news. So it wasn't traps and the deathly cold that was the biggest threat; there was the possibility of succumbing to insanity as well. She had to find the source of this accursed blizzard and snuff it out like a candle before it spread its madness like wildfire. 

As soon as the screaming began, for some reason, Vicyeth let out an agonizing screech of her own for seemingly no other reason than to join the noisemaking. "WWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGH" Luckily, she ceased her screeching as soon as the word 'treasure' fell. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THE TREASURE IS MIIIIINE, I WILL GET IT MYSELF" She uses magic to make a small puddle of water and jumps into it. Of course with it just being a tiny puddle barely enough to drown a bug she just flopped around on it like a fish on land.

      Gnok Nok has barely clothes the doors when the sounds of the commotion. In alarm he hunched low to the ground leaning against his staff. Letting out a whisper of a growl as he scanned his surroundings. The goblin adjusted his senses to the darker atmosphere compared to the reflective snow he had traveled across. He listened closely to the sounds until the word treasure gave him a childish grin.

     "Yummy Treasures?" He spoke to himself. Curiosity pushed Gnok forward swiftly towards the origin of the commotion. He came to a quick stop as his path crossed the strangest kind of fish. His confusion was obvious as he studied from a distance this creature he had not seen before. He was wary as he hunched low to the ground and sniffed the air. His goblin heritage for a moment wondered if it was food but the way it flopped around made him chortle at it. Cautiously moving slowly closer to it.  " No good swim here. No water."