Verdandi entered the Mammoth Skull Inn after a long successful hunt for snow wolves. The inn was located just about half an hour outside of Heidel. The archers that had accompanied her would cheer to their haul as they emptied a multitude of beers into their stomachs. Dandi just treated herself to a single glass of delicious plum wine before she got up. Leaving the task of returning all the meat and hides back to Heidel to the archers. Pulling her coat and cape over her body she moved into the soft windy weather, little snowflakes would splat onto her outfit.

Verdandi whistled and suddenly a little cute furball in form of a young polar bear would appear from below a large puddle of snow. The cute little rascal felt wonderful well at home in this environment. As if he was some sort of unusual dog, Verd would caress the hairy little monster and rub through it's fur while he seemed to be thoroughly excited. "Hmmm well well little bud, lets go for a stroll now huh?" Dandi gave her pet a gentle spank on the butt and jumped forth onto the pathway that was leading to the crossroads. One way that leads to Heidel. One way to the fisher villages. One way up into the mountains towards the throat of the world. One way to the eastern mountains and the last one… once lead to the magnificent village of Yukigakure.

Since it didn't really matter where she would make her stroll towards. She could as wall pick the road towards Yuki. Avalanche, the polar bear, jumped after her. His naturally carefree spirit put Verdandi in a good mood. She smiled back down on him as they walked. The wind wasn't all too bad. The snow not too deep on the road. But soon they would come to a wooden barrage. Just twenty minutes of walk away from the inn, the road suddenly stopped. A large wooden structured wall had been built here. Many "Keep out" signs were plastered against it. Behind the improvised gate of the wall, the ground would turn grey and black even. Verd slowly moved past the gate to take a look. Barren wasteland. Black ashes frozen beneath thick, glassy layers of ice. A sad reminder of Hao's wrath and how his flame had consumed every part of these lands.

For once she wouldn't turn around right here and now. Moving forth onto the path she could feel how the black snow beneath her would stick to her clothes and shoes. How was this even possible? It has been years since Yuki's destruction and yet the black ash of these lands had never been fully buried by the snow. Verd sighed. She wanted to, at least once, lay an eye upon the remains of their former shinobi village. She had not been there since childhood…. When the place was still, well… alive one could say. Verdandi moved forth but she could feel that her pet bear was getting more and more uneasy. The black ashen snowflakes tasted horrible. It was scaring the little cub and Verdandi couldn't blame him. For once he didn't run around but kept close to Verd. Very close.

After some minutes and an ever-growing uneasy feeling in Verdandi's stomach. They would come past a hill where one would be able to see the former valley that contained one of the largest villages of Yuki, behind this one was Yukigakure. But Verdandi stopped in her track. She was staring at hundreds of ashen buildings. Or at least their remains. A wasteland of snow on what used to be home to thousands of people. Dandi felt like she could hear the screams of the deceased in the back of her head. She changed her mind. Seeing this already brought tears to her eyes. Passing this and moving to see Yukigakure buried in frozen ashes the same way… she didn't have to.

But before she turned around. Something irked her deeply. Far outside the village was one single house that did not resemble any of the burned, ashen features of the rest. The wood was certainly shattered and broken from a long time of being exposed to the frozen storms, but there was no sign of Hao's wrath upon that hut. Intrigued and since it was outside the spooky village, Verd made her way off the actual pathway into the snow. The closer she would get the faster she would walk. This was not just a hut. Not just a random building. The closer she came the more obvious she could see something painfully familiar. Painting the whole wall of the building. Making her feel stupid to not have seen it already before.

Verd stood in front of the house. Her eyes focused on an intensely large symbol on the wrecked houses walls. It was nothing else than her own family crest. Yuki Clan. "What happened here?" she asked herself as she walked through the wreck. Most pillars had been torn. But at least one side of the wall, despite being covered in heavy snow, was still completely intact. Dandi slid her palm along the icy wooden structure. Basic furniture could be found beneath deep layers of snow. The outlines of a fireplace built into the wall.

While Verd was busy admiring the inhuman resistance, this building had shown to the times it had seen. She figured that this could not have been more than one or two years old. Avalanche had suddenly disappeared. Verd whistled once loudly. No response. A second time and she could faintly hear the noise of a growling bear cub. Beneath her. Verd just wanted to dig a little hole to eventually find her missing cub, as the very first strike of her palm gave away a clear echo that beneath the shacks floor, there was empty, large empty space. A series of determined powerful punches would break the wooden floor and Verd would drop herself into what seemed like an insanely large cave.

She could hear Avalanche's sniffle in her proximity and slowly moved in. The cave was beautiful. Clear ice crystals. Rocky floor. Frozen walls and platforms that she could only determine as man-made in their shape. The Yuki that owned this cellar had put a lot of work into the caves beneath his house. Verd would slowly draw her weapon, as despite the beauty of the place it also gave her a chilly feel down her spine. Wordlessly she would keep whistling into the cave and soon her cute little furball would appear from what seemed like a strange ball of ice. Verdandi approached as Avalanche obviously was excited about something. The closer she came the more certain it was. This ball shaped frost was not empty. Verdandi rubbed some misty snow from it's outer layer and was certain she just saw a human body outline inside there. She almost soiled herself from staring at the body inside. This was getting too creepy. She didn't come her to find corpses of former Yuki Clansmen.

But Avalanche kept pawing the large ice structure and whimpering. Why was he so interested in these corpses? What could he possibly like abo- …. Verdandi stopped her thoughts midway. Placing her palm once again back onto the ice. She was a prodigy, a talent like hers had not been seen in the snow in years and yet she had not noticed it the first time. Verd closed her eyes. Slowly moved her head towards her palm and the sphere and pressed it against the ice. Bump. Bump. Bump. Holy Susanoo. That was a heartbeat!

Verdandi shuddered. They idea of someone being trapped in there alive was… wrong in so many ways. She couldn't really figure how many people were in there but she was certain. If someone could get them out of there. It would be her of all people in the world. Verd commanded Avalanche to step back. The cute little furball seemed overjoyed as Verdandi had finally understood what he wanted to show her. Quickly rolling his butt into a corner behind his Master. Sheathing her sword again, Verd would knack the bones in her neck. Using the supernatural walking technique, she fixed her feet onto the ground. Placing both palms against the large dome of ice in front of her.

Verd started to meld her chakra. It was a very easy task to undo her own ice techniques. She could melt frozen things within a myriad of seconds usually. But this structure behaved differently. The ice was as thick as the worst kind of ever-frost. A type of ice usually only Ayakashi was capable to summon. For a moment there she wondered if her aunt had put a prisoner here and Verd was going to free something unspeakably evil. But the prospect of a frozen Yuki Clan in there… She had to try.

Verdandi's eyes would turn blue. Her body would send waves of energy away from it. Chakra poured from her palms in amounts that she usually didn't even spend for the strongest of her own techniques. But after a certain time, she could feel the cave walls starting to rumble. A crack would appear in the outlines of the ice sphere. Verd screamed. Her chakra would not last much longer. She would have to use every ounce of strength in her Hyouton control. Until at last, the whole sphere collapsed into a million shards of ice. Verdandi was blasted backwards by the suddenly intense amount of exhaled chakra that would be unleashed from within the sphere. Slowly crawling back up as the snowy mist was about to lower itself and three shadows would appear to be moving towards her.


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Verdandi waited for a long time but she could see that despite the broken sphere the people that were supposedly freed within started to stay still again. Frost returned up their skin as they instantly froze back into the ice that previously surrounded them. Verdandi was a gasped by the view of it and didn't know how to handle it. She could potential try to break them out again but she'd rather not risk it. Watching them slowly turn back into a solid dome of ice. Verd made sure that their life signals were still intact however before she whistled loudly and called for her raven.

The messenger would fly forth to Heidel. Requesting a transport cart and backup with the coordinates attached. She's wait and watch meanwhile how the dome slowly turned back to it's original form, luckily smaller in size however. Verd started to work on revealing the ice cave system to the world above. Removing planks. Breaking down floors. Basically, removing the whole building above the cave. The men would proceed to use pickaxes and start to remove the roofing cave parts above the ice dome. It would take hours to properly unearthed the dome enough and even the floor below the edges of the dome's bottom. Just so they could use the sturdiest of ropes and a wooden mechanic to heave the whole thing out of its hole.

Verdandi had to admit that the carpenter and engineer that came along to help with this, did an insanely good job. Loading the whole thing onto the cart in order to move it without damage. Making the ice princess certainly proud of what her men were capable of. She slowly moved along the cart with Avalanche besides her. Crawling her palms into his fur sometimes. Trying to make out the faces of those people and the creature trapped within the ice. But the frost soon turned dark and made it impossible to identify once more.

The rescue party would arrive in Heidel. The ice dome would be moved to a secure, chakra sealed vault inside the castle. The experts would try and start to thaw them right away but the unique frost was threatening to harm the people inside. It'd take time find a solution. But Verdandi trusted her specialist to do perfectly fine with their job.

390 / 2030

[EXIT]

(OOC: Leaving this thread due to inactivity. If Strafe returns, his char is safe and sound within Heidel castle to be revived.)

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