A Winter Solstice of Note [Event]

Motor City. A place Beira never felt obliged to go to, as far as sightseeing was concerned, seeing as she felt some degree of aversion to the wheels and gears and oils and engines that ran the aberrant anomaly called technology. Pure witchcraft it was, as far as Beira was concerned, and just as foul as an abomination dredged up from one of the numerous caverns of the hells that lay beneath the planes of creation, only that it was quite artificial, with not a soul or metaphysical presence, which was what, if Beira were to be honest with herself, troubled her mostly. Someone had told her once about the country of Bosco, a land full of technological wonders. Frankly, Beira was more frightened than she was impressed by the stories. It sounded like a sort of hell to her. And it was for this reason Beira had come to Motor City.

Someone had once told her that a day would come when she would have to pass through hell, if she was minded to achieve her deepest desire. So the best thing to do, in her opinion, was to steel herself to be able to face any hell when it came, and to do that, she had to be strong enough to be comfortable enough to pass through the hell without losing her mind. So, she had resolved that she would travel to Bosco one of these days. However, quite certain that she would be terrified witless on arrival to the strange country, which would be a very clear disadvantage to her, she had decided to ease herself into the ordeal by traveling to the place in Fiore that was closest to Bosco, as far as technology was concerned: Motor City.

So there she stood beneath what seemed to be an artificial tree stripped bare of leaves, at the edge of a square full of people milling about and engaging in one of Fiore's strange festivities, as she held a strange, brown, steaming, nice-smelling cup of beverage. It seemed some of the locals had brewed this stuff and were looking for passers-by to test the desirableness of their drinks. Chocolate drinks, they were called. Chocolate, she knew. She hadn't just thought it would taste quite good when hot. She was, after all, quite comfortable in the cold, though she kept herself covered in her traveling cloak, in order not to draw attention to herself. In any case, the drink was delightful. It had this slightly spicy flavor she couldn't identify, most likely because she was not acquainted to whatever had been mixed with the chocolate.

While making a mental note to find out what was in her drink, the God Slayer noticed a crowd gathering, as someone was calling out to anyone who considered themselves to be masters of ice. She stepped up, interested in this apparent challenge. The Goddess of Winter was certainly the Mistress of Ice. She would prove it.


WC: 493/1500
Hot Chocolate Tasting: 1 Token

The Motor City, as Fiore called it, was a delightful wonder, the kind of place that made Levinia's eyes twinkle with wonder and excitement. It had everything she ever wanted in a place. All sorts of machines, technological wonders, dealers in rare and common mechanical parts... they were all here. She knew she could learn a lot from this place, and living her would mean that she would have so many items she desired at her fingertips. That was, provided she had the money to purchase them. And also, as long as she wasn't avoid the wary, hostile gazes she had become much accustomed to. Trying to be optimistic, looking like a freak had its advantages, since most people didn't want to have anything to do with her for the most part, and left her pretty much alone. Unfortunately, that also meant she couldn't stay in a place for too long, as the same people would attempt to force her to leave. Using her bandages to obscure much of her body made the dark looks a bit less, but she still stuck out like a sore thumb.

Today, everyone was too busy having fun to pay her too much heed, and what with the festivities in full swing, all sorts of humans, mages and other creatures had come out to enjoy the cold, ice and snow. Much of them would sooner or later end up with the flu, but they seemed not to mind. And in that, was a boon for her, because at least, she didn't look too out of the ordinary with all sorts of strange folk up and about. She had gone to have a little fun, as that had not really been a part of her life before. The pond looked completely frozen over, and skating on it looked like fun. At first, she was a bit apprehensive, but she figured that if even children were allowed on it, it was quite safe. So, she rented a pair of ice skates and went to the pond.

She found the whole process of skating fun and relaxing, and she noticed that a few people tried to avoid her on the ice, which proved to be a chore for some of them. She, for her part, found some of their awkward moves amusing, but she soon became concerned that they would complain that she was ruining their fun moment, especially since the children seemed to skate towards her, and their parents would try to hold them back (to hilarious consequences). She soon returned the rented shoes and turned her back on the lake, looking for something else that she could take an interest in.

She noticed a table laden with an assortment of chocolate drinks, and they smelled really nice, but drinking them would prove to be a bit of a problem because of the bandages over her face. Still, she could not pass off the opportunity. So, she withdrew to a secluded spot, fixed her bandages until they covered her lips but permitted her mouth to open unhindered for the most part, then returned and bought herself a drinking straw. With little incident, she sampled the various tasty concoctions, until she settled for the one with the peppermint flavor.

Sipping her drink, she idly made her way to a group of people who were about to start some competition on sculpting ice. She would have joined them, but she didn't have two hands. So, she made her way to where she could easily observe the contestants, right beside a lady about as tall as she was (maybe a tad shorter), with mostly blonde hair and a thick traveling cloak obscuring her features. She nodded a greeting to the woman, then watched to see how the event would turn out.

Rolling for Ice Sculpting...

The member 'Fraag' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

OOC: Winter Goddess? Weak monster roll? This was surely meant to be!


A strange person, with almost all, if not all, features obscured, nodded in greeting at Beira. The God Slayer responded with a nod of her own, and a little smile. Was she supposed to wave, or do something else? Fiorean socialization was quite difficult, especially when it was of the informal sort. At least a smile was universal language, and in most climes, it was a positive thing. Having leaped over the hurdle of social interactions, Beira walked off regally, obviously feeling as confident as ever, as she made her way over to the chunk of ice before her. Everyone was given tools, but the Utgardian maiden was almost certain that she would not need these tools. She almost felt ashamed of herself; a task such as this would seem to be cheating, for one with such an aptitude as hers.

Everyone set to work, everyone, except Beira. For a moment, she stood and watched the contestants, a look of mild delight and amusement written all over her features. Some of the onlookers took notice of her, and began to make disparaging comments. One of them made a particularly irritating statement that made Beira want to rip her throat out. But, as the Utgardians would say, "a fellow's bearing can be questioned, but results can hardly be put up for scrutiny". Wordlessly, she spun to face the ice chunk designated to her, and with a graceful flourish, branded her tools. Then she set to work, with a speed and elegance that drew every spectator's gaze to the art being created before their eyes. Beira couldn't honestly say herself whether there was magic in the ice which yielded so easily to her hands, but she decided to go with another nugget of Utgardian wisdom: "Most foolish is one who retreats when the battle turns in her favor." So she pressed every advantage, working carefully and meticulously, even as the ice chunk transformed into a leafy tree.

Stepping back with a look of pride, Beira smiled with satisfaction as people crowded round the ice sculpture of a little tree, the types she had seen in pictures of Midi. It was a no-brainer, the Utgardian was quickly declared the winner of the contest. As she glided away from the contest, she saw a bunch of youngsters, maybe just a few years younger than she, heading towards the covered stranger. From the looks on their faces, mischief was intended. "Hey brats, find someone else to harry today," she intoned, quickly putting herself between the stranger and the youngsters. One of them looked her up and down appreciatively. "Wouldn't mind spending more than the evening with a body like yours," he said, "but first, we need to do some community service. That freak there seems to be making folks uncomfortable, so we want to do everyone a favor and drive it away."

"Take a step further, you odious worm, and compared to you, that 'freak' will be considered normal, and the prettiest thing about you will be your exposed brain." There was a moment of silence, as the group seemed to be considering whether they could all take on the Utgardian. "Eh, the spitfire's not worth it. Why do all the pretty faces get to be so mean?" the gang leader groaned as he backed away, only to be accosted noisily by a female member of the gang as they moved off. "Come here much?" Beira asked, unsure of what else to say to the stranger.


WC: 581 words
Total: 1074/1500
3 tokens for Ice Sculpting
Group Total of 5 Tokens.

Levinia already liked the woman whom she had greeted somewhat guardedly. Most people would look away, or move away from her, but the woman responded with a greeting of her own, although, to Levinia, it almost looked as if the woman was somewhat unsure of how to reply in greeting. No matter, she was much warmer than those who behaved normally. And since she was participating in the ice sculpting contest, Levinia already knew who she wanted to win.

She was sort of clueless as to why the blonde woman decided to watch the contestants instead of starting on her own sculpture. Maybe she wanted to see what they were doing, and work on something else completely different. As she watched, it soon became clear that the blonde woman was clearly an expert on ice and carvings. With delight, she watched as the ice was no match for the woman's skills, being shaped and carved to create a wonder for all to behold. In time, even some of the contestants stopped work to watch the blonde woman, despite the fact that some of them had mocked her some moments before.

At last, it was accomplished. The woman had carved out a tree from the ice, and it was perfect, down to the littlest detail. Levinia came over to look at the tree, and marveled at how well it had been sculpted. She would have clapped, but she could not, for certain reasons. A sharp tone drew her attention away from the ice carving to the blonde woman, who was talking to some youngsters. She quickly discovered what the exchange was all about, and while she wasn't surprised, she was quite saddened about it. They thought she was a freak, as usual. And of course, freaks were not welcome. Humans could be such wicked creatures. She wondered whether it was worth it to try to make a name for herself among people who hated her just for how she looked...

... but the answer came while she still considered the thoughts. The blonde woman protected her, stood up to the youngsters and threatened them into leaving. Her words were rather graphical, but Levinia was not about to ask if the woman meant those words. She was just glad that she hadn't been driven away like the refuse of the universe. She turned to her benefactor, but it was a pity the woman could not see her smile. Then again, with the kind of face she had, it was better for anybody not to see anything.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," she said, as she instinctively began putting some distance between herself and other human beings. In answer to the woman's question, she replied: "Actually yes, but like you just witnessed, that's often the welcome I get. And that's why I prefer machines to people. They never discriminate... unless it's part of their programming."

She was going to introduce herself, when she saw a scorpion. While it was large, it was pretty much the size of a normal scorpion. She thought it was a sculpture at first, but then she noticed it was creeping towards the blonde woman. Maybe she could return the favor by killing it and stopping it from performing its nefarious deed.

Stepping forward, Levinia crushed the ice creature beneath a thick boot... and jumped away just as another scorpion emerged and tried to sting her. Something was not right. Scorpions did not move around in large groups like this. As she watched, more crawled out, until there were about nine of them. And just as she backed away, a long, wicked shard of ice tore through her empty right sleeve, and buried itself in a tree trunk.

"We're under attack!" she announced, as she kicked another ice scorpion that had come close to them, shattering it against a tree. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed three humanoid creatures emerge from where the icicle had nearly injured her. And they didn't look friendly.

Her blonde acquaintance looked like a mage; only mages tended to wear out of the ordinary get ups. Hopefully, she was a rather strong mage, because Levinia knew that alone, her best option would be to run.

"Machines," Beira said with some degree of distaste, "ugh." Unwilling however to make the stranger, whose voice sounded particularly feminine, to feel unwelcome, Beira quickly expounded her reasons for animosity towards machines. "I'm what you could call... traditional, so I feel somewhat unsettled by things animated by forces other than magic," she stated. There was some movement in the snow close to her feet, but Beira paid the motion no heed, prepared to stomp the critter to death and beyond, were it to attack her. Her new acquaintance was however faster, and drove the ice scorpion into the snow with her foot.

All at once, it seemed that denizens of a frosty nightmare had wakened and decided to spread chaos on the world. A flying icicle nearly skewered the covered stranger, and Beira saw a number of ice scorpions scurrying about, trying to sting people how and where they could. "Hey stranger," the Utgardian called out, turning to face the three strange creatures made of ice which drew close to the scene of the now-ruined celebration, "do take care of the scuttling vermin. I shall handle the bigger foes." With that, she sprinted towards the three ice elementals, dodging icicles as she drew close. As she came within striking distance, she grabbed a shot icicle out of the air, and smashed it through the face of the first elemental. The second had its head taken off by a roundhouse kick, and the third had a hole punched through its chest, thanks to Beira's Slayer strength.

Just then, she noticed a huge creature made of snow and ice come bungling into the arena of celebration, attacking people viciously as it lumbered along. Beira vanished in a puff of smoke and runes, appearing to the left of the monster, just as it approached the stand with hot chocolate. Slipping behind the booth, whose owner had long abandoned the stand, Beira emerged holding a large pot with boiling water within, which she flung into the face of the snow brute. It screamed in fury and pain, plowing into the booth, but Beira was too fast for it. Stepping to the left, Beira created a halberd of nether rime, which she used to cleanly separate what stood for the creature's head from its body.

"Yeah well, the trouble's over. You all don't have to clap too hard," the young God Slayer said with a self-assured smile. But nobody was smiling. Only then did Beira realize there was a hulking form behind her. "Oh."


WC: 419 words
Total: 1493/1500

Although they were a bit many, the ice scorpions were easy to overcome. There was nothing a good kick and stomp couldn't solve. She followed the blonde lady's orders, crushing the scorpions till they were lifeless chunks of ice. She completed this chore just in time to see the blonde woman swiftly and effortlessly defeat the humanoid creatures that were made of ice. The woman seemed so strong, for her size. Levinia could only wish that she could attain such a power. Maybe she would ask the woman what her secret was.

There was little to do when the large snow brute appeared, clumsily but dangerously smashing anything in front of it, than to just stay out of its way and hope it wouldn't take a liking to her. Fortunately for her, and everyone else present, the blonde mage came to the rescue again, this time displaying some strange ice abilities. Perhaps that was why the sculpting was so easy for her, but it could also be as a result of an artful prowess on the side of the mage. Whichever was the case, the woman was talented, and the snow brute's head was cloven off its shoulders... if it had any.

Levinia would have clapped again, if she could, but not only was she physically handicapped, but the reason to clap quickly flew out of the window. Behind the blonde woman towered a really big monster. It was the fabled yeti, and it looked like it was going to tear her in half. Levinia reacted without thinking. Picking up a covered cup (which thankfully still housed its hot contents), she took a sniff at it, then threw it with all her might into the face of the yeti. The good news was, the yeti seemed so focused on the blonde woman that it seemed to pay no heed to anyone else. This made her attack count for a surprise attack, and peppermint flavored chocolate spilled all over the yeti's face.

"Let's see how you like peppermint in your eyes, you..."

The yeti turned and fixed a murderous glare on her.

"Eeeeeeek!!!"

Levinia turned and fled for her life, not bothering to look back to see if the monster was coming after her. There was no point not running from this battle; she was too weak to do anything concrete in this fight, and she was only endangering her life.

Hopefully, the blonde mage would use that opportunity to defeat the yeti, but Levinia would not come too close until the creature was defeated.

The hot beverage in the yeti's face of course turned the brute after the strange human, who fled. As the creature turned towards her, Beira stabbed upwards and backwards with the halberd in her hands. Unexpectedly, the yeti dodged the attack, and swiped at the God Slayer with its claws. Having nimbleness and agility on her side, Beira managed to leap over the strike, and spinning her body, kicked the monster in the jaw. It replied by smashing her into the snow with both fists clenched together. Desperate to escape being turned into a bloody stain in the snow, the Utgardian rolled out of the way of the creature's descending fists. Moving faster than expected, the yeti swung its fist into Beira with a backhand slap, sending her sailing a dozen meters away.

As Beira crashed into the snow, the yeti pounded the earth with its fists, creating fissures in the icy ground. From the dislodged chunks of earth and ice, the monster armed itself with makeshift projectiles, which it began lobbing at anything it considered a threat. "You think you own the winter, don't you?" Beira growled angrily, as she rose to her feet, catching the attention of the yeti once more. It picked a massive chunk of ice and prepared to lob it at Beira, when the temperature dropped further, enough to make the creature, a being of cold, pause at the unnatural occurrence. Then a massive statue of dark purple ice formed behind the Utgardian, before exploding into many wicked shards, each of which honed in on the yeti, scoring many traces of red in its white fur. The creature howled in pain and rage, and charged Beira for the last time.

Summoning a spear of ice in her hand, the God Slayer flung the spear at the yeti. The monster dodged the spear, and raised an arm to strike, when Beira vanished in a puff of smoke and fading runes. She appeared airborne, catching the spear she had thrown, spinning it gracefully, and driving the pointed weapon clean through the back of the neck of the yeti. The creature staggered, then fell to the snowy ground dead, its blood staining the white around it red. "I shall have this for my pains," Beira said, grabbing one of the creature's horns and ripping it clean off the yeti's head. Then she turned to the stranger who had interacted with her, ignoring the noiseless stares of the people who didn't know whether to cheer or be silent before the God Slayer who had ruthlessly taken down the yeti.

"Are you alright? If you are, good. I shall be off, then. You may come after me, and learn how to hold your own in a fight. If not, fare well." So saying, she strode off, gripping the horn still dripping with blood, as she left the site of the festivities, as the crowds murmured after her. Beira had made the offer because she detested bullies, and would hope to see the other person well equipped to face off against bullies. Hopefully, the stranger would take her offer and come after her. The company would be welcome.


WC: 527 words
Total: 2020/1500
Killed a yeti.

Levinia watched with awe as the blonde woman battled the yeti. She knew for certain that she would have been flattened in no time, what with the yeti's speed, size and strength. Yet, the woman managed to survive the attacks that connected with her and still rise to her feet.

The strange magic that the blonde mage exercised against the yeti was strange, and with her lacking of clothes sufficient to protect from the cold, her uncanny ability to manipulate ice, and the color of her ice, Levinia came to the conclusion that she was watching a fight between a yeti and an Ice Slayer. The yeti did its best, but the fight ended with it slain, a spear thrust through its neck. Like herself, the other onlookers were silent, stunned by the power wielded by a 'mere human'.

The ice mage approached her, and offered her an invitation. And for one who had been for long without ally and helper, it was such a hard offer to refuse. She nodded, then ran after the blonde mage.

"Wait! I don't even know your name. If you're going to train me and stuff, I can't be calling you "Blonde Boss" or something, right? I'm Levinia by the way..."

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