Group #7

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER - ROUND 5
You climb higher and higher. For the next week and a half, it seems that all that lies before you is the mountain rising upwards. There is a thick layer of snow all around you. The cold seems to help Luis' ankle somewhat and though it is swollen, the freezing temperature seems to help keep it numb.

Charlie slips on a patch of ice and tumbles down the mountainside. He hits his head on his way down and is knocked unconscious. After notifying the Ministry, he is sent home to get medical care.

Your group continues on without him. On June 1st, you have reached a high enough altitude where the temperature has dropped unexpectedly quickly and just as the sun has disappeared behind the mountain, you are forced to make a quick decision before you all freeze to death. You can camp for the night where you are and hope to keep sheltered from the elements, or you can try and find a cave that will not only offer shelter, but warmth. The trouble is, you'll have to look for it in the dark.

What do you think is best?
a. Camp here
b. Search for a cave

OOC NOTES
If Nicholas doesn't post in round 6, he will be injured and sent home.

Round 6 begins June 4th

  

[Guest]

It was cold. Nicholas didn't like to be cold, because it reminded him deeply about years when he was poor and had to look at his family starving. He didn't like winter, cold weather when he had nowhere to hide.

"We can camp here and try to warm ourselves with spells" Nicholas said, looking around. "Or we can try to find cave in the dark, but I'm not sure if it is a good idea. We can get lost there."

  

[Moira Prewett]

An increase in light gives an increase in darkness

"I say we carry on and search for a cave," she suggested sharply, not especially impressed with what she dubbed as 'incompetence' from the rest of the group. One of them had slipped and had to go back and the other was hobbling around like a maimed gnome. And they said females were the weaker sex! Ha!

Moira rolled her eyes at Flamel, "I'd rather be lost than chewed on by a werewolf, wouldn't you?"

Tag: Trail People Outfit Words: 75

created by kay of caution and sds

  

[Cole Agrippa]

Helping Luis hobble around reminded him of walking Molly home, though this was decidedly less enjoyable and more serious. Cole couldn't help but wonder what Miss Donovan was doing at this very moment, but had no time to focus on such happier thoughts as Miss Prewett voiced her opinion yet again. He was growing tired of her constant belittling.

However in this instance, in the bitter cold and the dark, he did agree with her. "Shelter of some kind would be best. There has to at least be an overhang of some sorts. Anything to cut down on the wind so we can light a fire." So far that had been about the only useful spell Cole had been able to do on the trail, but he was glad he had perfected it.

  

[Luis Caldeira]

• The expedition had gotten ten times worse in trying to complete it with a broken ankle. LuÝs had put up with a lot in his life - what a shitty life it had been, too - but trekking up icy mountains with an ankle that protested at evey turn; well, all the snow in the world couldn't numb it enough for LuÝs to feel satisfied, and that made this one of the least pleasurable ventures he'd ever had the misfortune to be drafted on. The only thing keeping him going was the thought of money and land as the rewards. It began a sort of inner chant, money and land, land and money...
  
  It didn't quite keep the cold at bay, though. And while LuÝs completely agreed that finding a cave would be the better option, he was not planning on hobbling around for hours trying to find one. And so this he demonstrated, giving a small nod to Cole who'd actually tried to be of help during all their walking, but then sitting down fiercely on a small platform of rock. "Find a cave, do what'cha like. I'm stayin' here - I got a bloody broken ankle, if yeh care to remember - so just tell me when ya find one." He declared, both his tone and his mood decidedly sour.

  

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER - ROUND 6
In the end, your group chooses to stay where you are and camp for the night. With magic, you're able to keep warm through most of the night. However, everyone fell asleep and in the early hours of the morning your spell wore off - resulting in minor frostbite on the ears and noses of everyone in the group. You spend the next three days traipsing across the mountainside. Water is plentiful in the melted snow and you have even come across a herd of deer that you were able to gain fresh meat from.

The evening of June 4th, you find a cave for shelter on one of the highest peaks of the mountain. As your group settles in for the night (one that promises to be much warmer than the last few days' thanks to the cave walls keeping the cold bite of the wind out), you hear distant roaring. It sounds loud, big and mean. Do you hide out farther back inside the cave or go out to investigate it?

Round 7 begins June 7th

  

[Luis Caldeira]

• To avoid thinking about his sorely aching ankle, LuÝs had taken to continually scratching one of his ears, if only to check whether it was still red raw, swollen and numb from the cold, not knowing that contact with the area would only make the frostbite worse. Food and water improved things, but only barely, and even in a cave for the night, LuÝs wasn't particularly enjoying himself.
  
  He hardly reacted to the roaring, almost as if he hadn't heard it, but in reality he was just exhausted and could not find the energy to care about it. "If anyone wants to go out and see what that is, be my guest..." He began dispassionately. Yeah, someone could go out and get eaten by a wild animal if they liked - in fact, if it was someone in the group he didn't like, well, he'd practically cheer them on.
  "Eh, I'd go myself... but," He gestured spectcularly at his damn ankle that'd he'd stretched out in front of him, "I'm going to shift down there and try and get some rest." He jerked his head at the depths of the cave, not particularly inclined to listen to the rest of the group's decisions.

  

[Cole Agrippa]

Thankfully a cave had been found, but that didn't mean Cole was really any warmer. He'd survived cold winters before, but since the warm weather had resurfaced, he body had gotten used to it. This trek was slowly climbing up his list of worst experiences ever. He just kept telling himself it would all be worth it in the end.

The roaring in the distance left Cole feeling an involuntary shiver. Who knew what it could be, but he for one, was not interested in finding out. "I don't think I'll be venturing out into the wilderness." He stated, rubbing his hands together and flexing his fingers to try and get the blood flowing again. He was glad they were fairing well in the food and water department, but he didn't want to know what kind of creature made a sound like that. He wanted to survive this trip and get his rewards so he could go home.

"Makes no sense to go out venturing when we know there's possibly something dangerous out there." Cole, though he hadn't gotten very far in school, did have common sense in abundance.

  

[Guest]

When they found a cave Nicholas summoned enchanted flames that danced in circle on cave's ground. It didn't need wood, but made air around just a little bit warmer. Still, it was better than nothing. He sit there, minding his own businesses when he heard this creepy roar. He had to agree with rest of the group that venturing outside to see what it was was ridiculously stupid idea. Instead he looked at Luis' ankle. "I can try to fix your leg tomorrow morning" he said to him.

  

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER - ROUND 7
Your group decides that is best to move a bit farther back into the cave. As you move farther back, you see that the water that drips from the cave has formed stalactites and stalagmites. There are icy patches on the cave floor as well. Just as you are settling in for the night, Cole slips on a patch of ice and falls - breaking his wrist in the process. Now you have two injured party members.

The shelter keeps you warm and out of the biting wind. In the morning, you venture outside into the snow. Your group continues to head south. On the seventh of June, there's a rumbling noise - one quite unlike anything that you have ever heard. It sounds like something big and not quite right. It is then that you look upward to see that higher up on the mountain, something has caused an avalanche. The tumbling waves of the snow could easily crush you if it were to reach you. The only option is to outrun it, or risk it by burrowing into the already existing snow in an attempt to have it pass over you - but then you'll have to worry about digging yourselves back out as well.

Round 8 begins June 10th

  

[Cole Agrippa]

Like the clumsy, awkward boy he had been for most of his youth, Cole had managed to slip on ice and injure his wrist, evidently to the point of being broken. It was the first time he'd broken something and it was just as painful as he expected. He was rather fortunate it wasn't his ankle, like Luis as he could just fashion a sling from his bandages and suffer through it.

They continued to trek, Cole useless to help with much of anything now, which he felt bad for, but there was nothing he could do for it. It would heal in its own eventually, if he kept it wrapped tightly in the make-shift splint and didn't move it too much. It wasn't as if he could afford to go to the hospital anyway. Of course if they survived this, he would. Ten galleons, though he would like to save it, would cover his medial bill.

With those thoughts in his head as they continued south, the distant rumbled from the direction they had come alerted him to look around. An Avalanche! For Merlin's sake, couldn't they catch a break. He couldn't apparate out of the way and he wasn't exactly looking forward to getting buried in the snow; how would they get out? Running for it seemed like the best option. "I think we should get out of the way." He suggested. "Head to the side of the slide to avoid it." Or at least that was what he'd heard to do in the case of an avalanche. Of course Luis couldn't move that fast, but they might be able to make it work.

  

[Luis Caldeira]

• Now he wasn't the only one that was injured. Well, this really was a fun holiday, wasn't it.
  It was only the thought of the money keeping him going by now. It had been a while, and yet, his ankle hadn't really healed yet. Flamel had offered to try and fix it, though.
  
  He wondered if there'd be time for that before the avalanche hit. Doubtful. Damn.
  
  Cole suggested running, trying to avoid it. "Can't." LuÝs muttered, teeth gritted. It was no one else's fault but bad luck, but he wasn't going to be able to outrun it. He could try and scramble far enough to the side, and started doing so already, trying to keep up with the othes nonetheless.
  It wasn't working. "Oh, don't wait for me, I'll be fine," He grunted, hardly even sarcastically. Glancing back at the oncoming catastrophe, he wondered whether he should just dig himself a shelter in the snow and hope for the best. The others could dig him out later, pah.

  

[Moira Prewett]

An increase in light gives an increase in darkness

Merlin help them. Now another man was down! She thought they all ought to be ashamed of themselves for being such pansies and she made no bones about saying so either. At this rate she would be the only one left in her group without a scratch on her. Fortunately Mr. Agrippa was not as much of a whiner as Mr. Caldeira had proved to be in her opinion. Why had the Ministry put her with a group of incompetent idiots?

Oh and then there had to be an avalanche. "I'll be damned if my final moments have to be spent with a pack of dimwits," she muttered irritably under her breath. "Are you all wizards or am I travelling with squibs?" she suddenly demanded exasperatedly, taking out her wand as she did. "I hope you all failed your NEWTs, that's assuming you even got past your OWLs!" Pointing her wand at the oncoming disaster, she cast a spell with the intention that it should shield the group and part the fast approaching snow so they would remain unharmed and... above ground if Caldeira decided to stop his feeble digging. "Why am I eternally nannying idiots?" she muttered under her breath.

Tag: Trail People Outfit Words: 201

created by kay of caution and sds

  

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER ù ROUND 8
Your group decides to combine magic and burying yourselves in the snow in an attempt at survival. Luckily, you're able to get yourselves in a stable enough shelter with packed down snow that it passes right over your heads. However, you're sealed in. Even with magic, it takes nearly a day to get unburied. Claustrophobia and panic are common feelings as you dig yourselves out.

Finally, you emerge into sunlight to find two feet of extra snow on the ground. It's powder-like and impossible to continue to climb in the direction you were headed. Instead, you travel downhill in a southeastern direction. The region becomes much warmer and thins out into a sparse forest that appears to be several valleys shoved together. After three days, you come upon a small clearing. There is a stream with several rock scattered around it, perfect for sitting. It seems to be as good of a place to rest as any, and your group is able to refill your water canteens.

Round 9 begins June 13th

  

[Cole Agrippa]

It had taken quite a bit of willpower not to throw Ms Prewett off of the mountain for all of her snide remarks. Fortunately a broken wrist prevented such actions. They managed to survive the avalanche, though Cole wasn't sure how long it would take them to get out again. He was useless, as he had no idea how to use his wand and now had no use of his left arm.

Cole wasn't exactly used to being crammed into a tight space with so many people. Of course he could handle it by himself, but he tried desperately not to let it get the best of him.

Once they were out, he was glad that they were moving steadily down hill and into warmer climates. After this last winter and this entire ordeal, it would be far too soon the next time Cole saw snow. He could easily go a few years without its presence in his life. They weren't making as good of time as they could have, what with two injured group members, but Cole tried not to complain; there was no use in it. His arm throbbed and he was sure if he didn't get it looked at when he got back, it was going to heal wrong and then everything would be even worse. "Let's take a break." He suggested after almost three quarters of a day's trek. It was time to rest. They were all tired and things seemed fine for now.

  

[Moira Prewett]

An increase in light gives an increase in darkness

Moira was somewhat annoyed that her spell had not been quite as effective as she had hoped but then she had never had reason to stop an avalanche before so she hadn't even been completely certain that it would work at all. It had at least spared their lives, even if being buried under snow for a large portion of the day was not at all entertaining for the middle-aged witch.

Once they were far away from the snow, Moira could only hope that they would find the end of their journey close by but it seemed it was an endless mission. She didn't argue about stopping either, preferring to perch herself upon a rock and refill her canteen and then wish disapparating wouldn't leave her guts scattered around in a heap. "How much longer do you suppose we will be required to endure this for?" she mused allowed, not really feeling the need to have answer.

Tag: Trail People Outfit Words: 157

created by kay of caution and sds