Lavina on the Ashen Isle & in VR

[Lady Frost]

BOOM! - Another fireball went flying through the distant ruins.

The Ravenwatch wall guards had been watching the kobolds battling a pair of adventurers in the ruined village for nearly 2 songs-length, but for every kobold slain another seemed to take its place.

"They picked the wrong time'a day." comments a tall sentry with a longbow. "This is their most active time-a-day. They ain't leaving."

The observation draws the nods from most of the others, though an armored wall patroller offers a shrug. "I'll put a pair of gold on that bet." He offers.

"Aye, I'll match that." returns the sentry.

The small group continues to watch. When the first of the pair falls, they each give a glance to the armored man who put gold on the pair. He offers a casual shrug. "Didn't expect 'em to make it. Just makin' it int'restin'." They all nod some and look back out.

As a pair of kobolds start pulling things off the fallen, the second adventurer seems to recognize he's not going to make it and starts trying to disengage.

Recognizing the behavior, a shorter gate sentry starts, "Oh, here we go.. Wait for it... Waaaiitt..."

The group stands, anticipating.... and then finally, as was seemingly predicted, the adventurer turns his attention to the walls and raises his arms, calling for help.

"And there we are..." The gate sentry breathes out; the rest of them nodding in agreement at the action each of them clearly expected.

With kobolds in chase, the adventurer turns, hurrying towards the walled citadel. None of the guards, not one, makes any motion that they'll aid. And from nearly a full longbow shot away, they stand watching the fleeing explorer. - Then, something a bit unexpected catches their attention - a shimmering out in front of the gate. This was enough to bring them to arms. Bows fixed on the spot and a call into the courtyard.

From the shimmering, a figure appears. Covered in midnight blue and holding a battle staff on her shoulder her attention immediately turns to the fleeing adventurer who now is about a stone's throw away with three kobolds in chase. As they approach, she begins a spell that ends with the first of the kobolds instantly freezing solid, tipping over forwards with its continued momentum and sliding to a stop in the dirt. This was enough to stop the other two kobolds in their tracks and send them returning to where they came from.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" cried the adventurer as he finally reached her. "I knew you guys would help!"

This caused the sorceress to turn an eye up at the walls. The guards offered her a shrug as they lowered their weapons, though attention still clearly on the pair outside the gates.

The adventurer continued. "Please though, my friend has fallen in the ruins. We've got to go help. Will you help me?"

The sorceress nodded seeming alright to go help. "Let's go look, but I'm no priestess."

The pair made their way back off into the ruins, powerful magics keeping the kobolds at bay as they looked for his companion.

Back up on the walls, the group of Ravenwatch considered... "So who won the bet?"

Mention of the event makes its way back into the citadel.

[Lady Frost]

*Shimmer*

*Shimmer*

A large circle shimmers into existence outside the Gargoyle's Gates and Lavina exits the portal, closing it behind her. By now, the guards seemed more accustomed to the coming and going of the sorceress, but they dared not completely ignore her; dereliction of duty was not a crime they wished to be accused of. So they kept an eye on her as she worked.

Below, the sorceress moved off towards her ever-growing pile of iceblocks which sat about 6 long jumps south the gates, just west of the path. She again removed about a dozen of them from magic bags. Each block measured about a large hand wide, tall, and two hands long. They all sat right next to each other stacked in a large cube about half as tall as she was. Before leaving, Lavina would lower the temperature of the ice blocks again and reposition a magical dagger of unthawing ice which she used to keep the blocks frozen while she was gone. Opening another portal, briefly, the sorceress would return to from wherever she came.

[Lady Frost]

After a few days of arriving here and there, the sorceress had a cube of stacked ice blocks as tall as herself. The amount of heat the cube was absorbing was enough to freeze the ground around it and frost extended out at least an arm's length.

With a couple blasts of ice from her staff, the sapphire-eyed woman nodded and shimmered away to Valkur's Roar. "Now came the hard part." She thought, "I need help building this."

[uriziel]

Vincent stands quietly contemplating the first strike. As he is rarely seen, not in armor but in clothes, a belt with tools hanging for sculpting the block of ice. He pulls out a book, turning to a page with a sketching of a snowflake altar.

Finally, after staring at it for a small eternity, he nods and begins to work. Using wedges and a wooden hammer, he hammers spikes in a row slightly in he sheers large chunks of ice off first.

"Oh good, it actually worked. Last thing I need is an incredibly powerful mage irritated with me." He muses to himself, a bemused look on his face. "Well, another one anyways."

After two hours of work, he is left with a large base with a smaller rectangle on top. He plops tiredly on the ground, laying on his back while thumbing a necklace absentmindedly as he rests.

"Well, step one is done. Step two through fifty still to do. This is way harder than I thought it'd be." He sighs, sitting up and grabbing a bottle of ale from his pack.

He pulls the cork out of the bottle, spitting it to the side and taking a swig as he looks at his sketching, trying to plan out what else he needs to do. "Honestly, this is way easier on me than the normal weird stuff that just keeps happening to me. Constantly."

As he says this, he looks around, suspicious and expectant, of something or anything happening to him. For now however, he rests before continuing his work.

[Lady Frost]

Sometime after the base is complete and Vincent is laying on his back, the air near him begins to shimmer - in a few moments the sapphire-eyed sorceress is standing over the relaxing man.

She takes a moment to peer around before noticing him at her feet. From him, she glances to the sculpture appraisingly and back down to him. "It seems to be progressing alright." She continues before he can respond, suddenly her seeming in a small hurry is apparent. "The pieces that you break off, please stack them with these." She then begins tugging out a handful of new blocks from a magic bag, starting a new pile of iceblocks about 6 paces west of the previous one.

"I don't have another magic item to keep these ones as cold so I'll need to either go find something or hurry to gather enough so they don't melt too quickly. Worst case, I guess, is we lose the bottom and possibly the outer sides to melting. I'll just need to gather more."

[uriziel]

He nods to Lavina before taking another swig from his bottle and setting it down. "Alright, I'll get em moved over."

He stands up with a groan, stretching. He moves quickly after however, grabbing the broken off bits and putting them on the new ice blocks.

"I'll be honest, I think this was the easier step. This'll be the point of breakage if I screw it up." He says with an even tone. "First I gotta trace an outline, then I get to carving. Speaking of, I best get back to it. Ice doesn't carve itself."

He holds his hands out to make sure they're steady before beginning his carving, using a wooden mallet and a chisel to carve into the ice blocks face the shape of a snowflake, referring back to his book with a sketch as he works. Each blow is made with intent, but without too much force to only an imprint in the ice rather than break it. He works, largely quietly aside from the occasional "hmmm" or swearing.

Finally, only a half hour later this time, he has an outline embedded in the ice to work of of as he takes out a large metal file, and begins to work on the outside first, filing away at the ice to make the ice into the shape of a snowflake without the inside portions hollowed out. The form of the ice is taking shape, though now he has to make the hollowed out portions.

[Lady Frost]

Before he returns to work, Lavina blasts the ice with cold from her staff. She then watches him get started and she teleports away in a shimmer.

She returns a few more times that day to bring blocks of ice, but comes and goes quickly and with nearly no words.

[Lady Frost]

Here and there over the next few days, Lavina eventually completes the second cube of ice blocks. This cube is a bit larger than the previous one. Each block is stacked snuggly together to avoid air between them, however, without a source to keep it cold between her visits, the cube melts far more than the first cube.

Having completed the cube, she takes a look at the status of the first sculpture.

[uriziel]

The first sculpture has been completed, seemingly without incident. The work itself isn't a masterpiece, nor the is it by any means sloppy, having some small details and intricacies added.Vincent is no where in sight by the time Lavina can check on him, though a note was set at the foot of the sculpture. The writing is elegant, done in charcoal with a fine tip with a practiced hand.

"Lavina,

I had a thing I had to go do. First sculptures done, hopefully the carving is to your satisfaction. Will return, just leave word at Greatgaunt and I'll come do the other one.

Vincent"

[Lady Frost]

Looking over the sculpture that's a bit taller than herself Lavina nods. She takes the magical dagger and stabs it into the front center base of the sculpture and, using her own magic, covers it in a thick layer of ice, keeping it safe from being easily stolen while allowing its magic to keep the shrine frozen.

Taking a flat square-shaped iceblock, about two hands wide, by two hands wide, by a finger-length tall she quickly used her shovel to create a wide, flat bowl shape which she placed on the base to hold tithes. Another flat, rectangular black was placed just in front of the sculpture as a place to kneel.

The sorceress finally stood up and took a step back to admire the work. She wasn't sure the effect it would have, but she knew it was the best she could come up with. She hoped it would be enough to get the results necessary.

After a long look and some thought, the faithful Aurilian approached the shrine and kneeled. As the one dedicating the new shrine and declaring it holy ground, the first prayer needed to be well-spoken and thoughtful. She took hold of her staff and focused everything on trying to make sure she's noticed by her deity. Speaking out loud, she begins.

"Auril, Frostmaiden - I dedicate this shrine and declare this ground sacred for you. The people of this land already suffer at the ends of their means and this winter will likely tip the scales beyond what they can survive. Food is scarce and a crop must be grown over the winter if they are to not starve. I, and the people of this island, beg for the mercy of the mighty Goddess of Winter, for without the generosity of relief from the frigid torrents that are sure to come there is no other who will be able to provide sanctuary from the coming death. Let not the god of death claim the prayers for those lost and let not the goddess of agriculture take her credit. Hear their prayers my Lady Auril and take what is rightfully yours."

After her prayer, she opens her eyes to find the ground covered in ice out a handful of paces. While it was merely her own force combined with the staff, it was certainly a wide circle, something rarely achieved outside great exclaims of emotion. She hoped it was enough for her to tug on the consciousness of her goddess.

Her gaze then turned to the sentries watching from the wall.

"Tell them it's done."

[uriziel]

Vincent stands, this time armed with knowledge, as He rolls out a tool bag and sets to work about sculpting and indeed re-sculpting with a smile, though he himself was the man who caused the issue with the first statue in an act of vengeance.

His work this time is quicker, though in no way could it be considered rushed, simply he is more skillful in where to strike, how to strike.

"I'll be honest, this sculpting really did make me better with my blade. New ways of striking." He muses to himself as he looks over the partially finished work.

After several hours of hard work, he is finished with both sculptures, nearly identical to the first and each other. He looks on his work with a smile of pride, before writing a note out and leaving it nearby for Lavina.

"Lavina,

I hope you are satisfied with this work. If there is something that isn't to your satisfaction, inform me and I will make every effort possible to rectify it.

May this be the way to peace for us, and I sincerely hope nothing else will ever come between us. While you are definitely angered at me, which I understand, I do hope we can remain allies at least.

Vincent"

[Lady Frost]

Stepping forth from a shimmer in the air, Lavina made her way over to inspect both sculptures. Despite it having been nearly a day past, her enlarged aura still carried a sense of malice and she made no mental effort to curb it. In fact, there was a certain acceptance of it. She'd not been pushed this far since the infamous attack of the paladin in Greatgaunt, and the adrenaline from it stirred a sort of primal flare - a flare she found stimulating.

The first sculpture, the one already sanctified for the shrine, had indeed been repaired. She could hardly tell anything had happened in the first place. It was satisfactory and, together with the tithe of 500 lions for its damage, she decided the matter was concluded. However, the crumpling of the letter left for her into the frozen mud might indicate it wasn't forgotten.

Second, the sorceress moved to the completed second statue. It was of similar design but a few heads taller.



As this shrine didn't have a magic focus for keeping it ever-frozen she'd have to do continue to do it manually. Fortunately, the weather was already starting to turn and it wouldn't thaw very quick at all. However, that also meant the window for planting winter crops was coming quickly. Lavina would need to find a focus, or a wizard with the magic to keep it permanently frozen. Her part of tall this was beginning to come to an end. She wondered if the Gargoyle and Valkur's Roar were prepared to step up and play their part in avoiding starvation this winter.

But for now... Lavina had to figure out how to move the large ice sculpture from the island into the city.

[Lady Frost]

The sorceress stood looking at the refrozen ice sculpture - the second and larger of the two. Ideas came and went for nearly a songs-length before she settled on a crate and wagon. Maybe Snaer could build her a wagon; a crate would be easy enough to acquire.

[Lady Frost]

Snaer was right, the cost of time of having a cart built was too great. This rented wagon was working just as well and with the assistance of her Shapechange spell, the crated ice sculpture was loaded onto the boat and on its way to Valkur's Roar listed as a sculpture on the shipping manifest.

Upon arriving in Valkur's Roar, Lavina awaits the crate to be unloaded onto the docks.

[Lady Frost]

Lavina's crate is damaged beyond repair in the VR docks explosion. Lavina disappears off into the mountains for the foreseeable future.