The Glacian's howl dies down to a whimper, and Nyyrikki's life continues much as it had before. The ptarmigan are drawn back to the metal shards left behind from the daemon trap, but after snow covers them, they move on. And where their prey moves, so too does Nyyrikki. They track the flocks across the sky, moving between hill and vale - but always, always digging out a shelter before dark.
Except tonight. The ground kept trembling, making building a stable shelter near impossible. Worse yet, a slide had filled one of their backup rock crevices, so they were picking their way around a patrol base, trying to find somewhere to hide before the temperatures dropped any lower
The sounds of a creche of snaga echo up the rocks as they try to descend a steep escarpment, and they freeze, one foot dangling in the air, halfway to a foothold. The chattering ebbs and builds, but doesn't get any closer - so Nyyrikki dares to ease down a cramping leg to the foothold. Snow crystals squeak but the snaga noises continue at the same pitch and distance.
Undetected, for now.
The rest of the descent is just as nerve-wracking - Nyyrikki's eyes are good, but they aren't quite good enough to make out more than the high-lighted towers of the base off in the distance, even from the top of the ridge. Now, with every inch of their body straining to move stealthily to the bottom, they were incredibly stressed.
The bottom of the escarpment is splinter-sharp, and slick with a rime of ice. Nevertheless, Nyyrikki sprawls out, heaving breaths that puff bright and sparkly. Soon it will be absolutely dark, and their eyes will be less than useless. That, and there's an entire creche of snaga in their way.
Their parents had only told them once, "don't fight a daemon, child. you won't come out the winner." And given that they'd seen MTs with frankly scary weaponry go down against even half a creche? Nyyrikki took it to heart.
Slowly, painfully, they crawled over the rubble to the snow - and then shifted to a slumped over, deathclaw-like walk to wade through the knee-deep snow. As Nyyrikki rounds the corner they see the creche backlit by the fort's spotlights - they're just out of range of the moving spotlight, but what's very visible is the large daemon trap with multiple entries.
pt 3
Except tonight. The ground kept trembling, making building a stable shelter near impossible. Worse yet, a slide had filled one of their backup rock crevices, so they were picking their way around a patrol base, trying to find somewhere to hide before the temperatures dropped any lower
The sounds of a creche of snaga echo up the rocks as they try to descend a steep escarpment, and they freeze, one foot dangling in the air, halfway to a foothold. The chattering ebbs and builds, but doesn't get any closer - so Nyyrikki dares to ease down a cramping leg to the foothold. Snow crystals squeak but the snaga noises continue at the same pitch and distance.
Undetected, for now.
The rest of the descent is just as nerve-wracking - Nyyrikki's eyes are good, but they aren't quite good enough to make out more than the high-lighted towers of the base off in the distance, even from the top of the ridge. Now, with every inch of their body straining to move stealthily to the bottom, they were incredibly stressed.
The bottom of the escarpment is splinter-sharp, and slick with a rime of ice. Nevertheless, Nyyrikki sprawls out, heaving breaths that puff bright and sparkly. Soon it will be absolutely dark, and their eyes will be less than useless. That, and there's an entire creche of snaga in their way.
Their parents had only told them once, "don't fight a daemon, child. you won't come out the winner." And given that they'd seen MTs with frankly scary weaponry go down against even half a creche? Nyyrikki took it to heart.
Slowly, painfully, they crawled over the rubble to the snow - and then shifted to a slumped over, deathclaw-like walk to wade through the knee-deep snow. As Nyyrikki rounds the corner they see the creche backlit by the fort's spotlights - they're just out of range of the moving spotlight, but what's very visible is the large daemon trap with multiple entries.