Timestamp:4th of Cylus, 723
Location: Scalvoris Town
Kura had slept most of the second day of storm due to exhausting herself the day prior and the people around her been very firm that she spend most of that day recovering from her exertions while they kept the efforts going. Come the 4th, however, there would be no keeping her from being active again and everyone knew it. Thus it was that Proper Birch, the Councilor for Scalvoris Town specifically, had already gotten things together that could benefit from the Albarech's specific help, most notably her immunity to the cold and her wolf familiars. "The snow's still coming down hard, and communication is still rough. We've been able to maintain some contact with the Element Hall and the local Adunih outpost, but not much else at the moment, and what we've got is limited. Both have refugees, but the Adunih appear to be running thin on some of their supplies." Birch said, her tone calm. "I don't know how much we can give them ourselves, or how to get them there. Doesn't help that they weren't able to tell us what they needed specifically." she said, shaking her head slightly. "Honestly, right now, you and your wolves are our best chance for getting a clearer picture of everything going on here in Scalvoris Town. We've still got very little contact with the rest of Scalvoris as well, but we're stuck with that. You may not feel the cold, but the weather will still slow you down. Even if you went yourself, it'd be at least four trials before you can get anywhere." she said, pre-emptively cutting off any suggestion of the Albarech going to check on other towns.
Kura, who had already reached that same conclusion merely nodded. "Probably longer, and that's assumin' I can readily keep myself fed and watered during the trip, and neither are likely right now." she said, nodding at the fireplace where they were having to thaw water for drinking. They had a fair amount of refugees at the Council Hall, but they were handling the all right at the moment. They'd always kept a good amount of food and bedding at the Council Hall in case of long, overnight meetings, and while they weren't likely to have any of those since they'd abandoned the usual meeting format, they'd kept the supplies on hand, since they already had them. Which was turning out to be rather a large help at the time. "I can get around town safely enough, though. I'll stop by the Adunih and see what they need, then check in at the Element Hall. They might have a sled or the like that I can hook up the familiars. I can use that to move any spare supplies about. I'll also check in on Cally's, Faith built that place and so it's got decent odds of havin' extra stuff on hand." she said, her tone thoughtful. "One question, though, how am I gettin' out of here to go on my walkabout?" she asked, gesturing at the windows, which were currently showing that the snow was halfway burying the council building.
Birch smiled slightly at Kura's question. "Out an attic window." she said, slightly pleased to have anticipated the Albarech. Granted, most people avoided the attic of the Scalvoris Council building, since it was considered spooky and maybe haunted, but Birch didn't figure that would deter Kura at all. Kura was technically haunted herself, even if most everyone had gotten used to Cally by now, and she wasn't the type of person to be deterred by the occasional spooky happening. Kura, who did know about the stories regarding the attic and had largely chocked them up to the general weirdness of Scalvoris, nodded. She'd been sort of kidnapped by ghost pirates once, so even discounting Cally, she wasn't going to be bothered by a little spookiness.
"All right, then. I'll leave Cally and the owls here and be on my way." she said, getting a nod from Birch. The Albarech's two owls, which occasionally led to people calling her the "owlbarech" as a joke, couldn't fly in this weather, and Cally had taken charge of making sure that everyone had blankets and was getting sufficient food. With the day's agenda settled, Kura put on her coat, more out of habit than any other reason, and headed up into the attic. Fortunately, there was no need to watch out for spookiness at the moment and Kura made it out an attic window without any poltergeist problems. Once out in the streets, or rather over them, Kura looked around and let out a slow breath. "Stay on diggin' duty, you lot. No tellin' how packed this snow is." she said to her wolves, before she took off in the direction of the Adunih outpost.
As it turned out, the snow was reasonably packed and she wasn't at a huge amount of danger of falling into the snow, so she instead had her wolves manifest and sniff around for any signs of people. This proved to be largely futile, as the weather basically smothered the scent of anyone that might have been caught under the snows. Kura let out a sigh, knowing that there was almost certainly people she couldn't help because she didn't know they were there. She very resolutely put that to the back of her mind, however. She had not spent over a century telling people not to worry about things that they couldn't affect to not follow her own advice. Right now, she'd just have to focus on what she could do.
Which in the immediate sense, turned out to be getting a little lost. She knew Scalvoris Town pretty well, or so she thought, but she mostly knew it from the ground level, not so much when she was at eye level with most of the roofs around her and they were all covered in snow. This conundrum led her to pause and think about the layout of the city for a minute, pacing so that she didn't get buried due to inactivity. She eventually got her bearings by realizing that buildings would all be in the same place still, and most of the really major buildings were a few stories tall. With some help from her wolves, Kura was able to figure out that she was, currently, standing about a foot out on the water by the docks and what she'd thought had been an inn had actually been a ship. "Well, at least I know the water is frozen and holdin' weight." she said, shaking her head before starting back into town proper. She did get turned around a few more times, but she eventually found her way to the Adunih outpost.
They turned out to have had the sense to keep an eye through their own attic windows and opened one to let the Albarech in, before ushering her down to speak with the local leaders of the hospital. She explained the communiciation issues they were having at the moment, but brought them up to speed on the news from the Council Building. Then they discussed the supplies they needed, which mostly turned out to be warm clothes and firewood for the moment. The Adunih was divided into smaller rooms than the Council Building, so it was draining their firewood supply keeping all the rooms warm, and they had a lot of the refugees. A lot of people were willing to help, but their ability to brave the storm was more limited by the clothing issue. Kura nodded and said she would get them what supplies she could and would be visiting every so often over the next couple of days to keep everyone informed. The Adunih agreed to that and told her what had been going on in their neck of the woods so that she could keep others informed.
Once all that was done, she headed back out into the storm and was prepared to swear that the snow had gotten deeper since she'd been in the Adunih building. It was going to be a problem if this kept up. For now though, she focused on getting to the Element Hall, a process that involved her getting lost a few more times and at one point accidentally almost leaving the city, only stopping when she scrambled over a raised bit and realized she'd just hauled herself onto the city wall. "...well, then." she said, sighing slightly and turning back into the city. She eventually found her way to the Element Hall, who were also monitoring their attic windows, and was admitted to meet with the local Assistants.
The Element Hall, as it turned out, was doing fine for the time being. Being a military headquarters, they were actually better stocked on food than the Council Building and had a notable surplus of warm clothes because of military redundancy, even with their own refugees. After bringing them up to speed on what was happening at the Council Building and the Adunih outpost, the Assistants had some of their Elements, helped some of eager volunteers, box up a good number of their surplus clothes and take them up to the attic, where a sled was found and loaded. With some help, she got her three wolves hooked up to the sled so that they could pull it. One thing the Element Hall didn't have in abundance, however, was firewood. While they did have more than the Adunih, they also had a lot of smaller rooms to deal with.
Now loaded with supplies, Kura gotten the sled and wolves out the attic window, with the help of an improvised ramp, and set off into the storm again. One of the assistants, hearing of her navigational problems, had given the Albarech a map of the town to help her get around easier. This turned out to help a lot and Kura made to Cally's, her next stop, with only a few instances of getting turned around. They were also watching their attic, which wasn't as much help due to Cally's being a shorter building. A little digging help from Phelan got her into the restaurant, however, and talking to the people running the place. She brought them up to speed, and they agreed to help. They had an excess of firewood, being a restaurant and needing to run a lot of ovens will do that, but they weren't doing as great on warm clothes for their own refugees. Kura agreed to swap some warm clothes for firewood, and a few stronger refugees and cooks that already had warm clothes helped her make the exchange on the sled.
Once the exchange was made, Kura headed for the Adunih outpost and managed that without very much difficulty, since she already knew what the outpost looked like at what currently counted for ground level. With a little help from the orderlies and stronger refugees, she got the sled into the Adunih attic, where they could unload all the supplies in relative warmth. The doctors at the outpost were definitely happy to have the supplies, and Kura had promised all of the places she'd been that she'd be back the next day to check on everyone. With that guarantee in place, Kura got some help getting her sled back outside again, then set off back towards the Council Hall at long last.
When she got back, she opened up some extra windows and had the wolves drag the sled all the way into the attic, glad to see that Birch had decided to put some of the refugees to work by having them keep watch in the attic as well. They were clearly more nervous about it than Kura had been, but they were doing well enough, and Kura promised that if the door vanished on them, something that had apparently happened before, she'd darn well chop into the attic to rescue them. This warning also delivered to any potential ghosts in the attic, with the promise that they could go back to their usual hauntings after the current crisis passed, Kura went down into the main building and spoke to Birch, bringing her up to speed on everything that was going on at the Element Hall, Adunih Outpost, and Cally's.
With her work done, Kura flopped into a chair and took a bowl of stew gratefully when Cally brought to her. She had taken water at the stops she had made, but had declined food and was thus quite hungry. "Well, that's what we can do for the day. And probably about what I'll be doin' every day until the weather clears enough for us to do any more. I can't even get into regular buildin's to get them any supplies right now, and none of the inns have windows I can access. Too small for me to get through." she said, shaking her head.
Birch, who'd had the good manners not to laugh too much when Kura had admitted to getting lost several times throughout the day, nodded. "Aye. Once the storm breaks, we can see what we more we can do. Might have to start worrying about repairs once that happens as well." she said, before shaking her head. "For now though, you eat and rest. Once the weather does break, we'll need your head as much as your cold immunity. People are going to be scared and worried about their loved ones, and that's not getting into people in desperate need of supplies or shelter." she said. Kura nodded. Both women had been on the Council during prior crises situations, so they new what they would be needing to do once the storm broke. For now, though, they would just have to do what they could.
Location: Scalvoris Town
Kura had slept most of the second day of storm due to exhausting herself the day prior and the people around her been very firm that she spend most of that day recovering from her exertions while they kept the efforts going. Come the 4th, however, there would be no keeping her from being active again and everyone knew it. Thus it was that Proper Birch, the Councilor for Scalvoris Town specifically, had already gotten things together that could benefit from the Albarech's specific help, most notably her immunity to the cold and her wolf familiars. "The snow's still coming down hard, and communication is still rough. We've been able to maintain some contact with the Element Hall and the local Adunih outpost, but not much else at the moment, and what we've got is limited. Both have refugees, but the Adunih appear to be running thin on some of their supplies." Birch said, her tone calm. "I don't know how much we can give them ourselves, or how to get them there. Doesn't help that they weren't able to tell us what they needed specifically." she said, shaking her head slightly. "Honestly, right now, you and your wolves are our best chance for getting a clearer picture of everything going on here in Scalvoris Town. We've still got very little contact with the rest of Scalvoris as well, but we're stuck with that. You may not feel the cold, but the weather will still slow you down. Even if you went yourself, it'd be at least four trials before you can get anywhere." she said, pre-emptively cutting off any suggestion of the Albarech going to check on other towns.
Kura, who had already reached that same conclusion merely nodded. "Probably longer, and that's assumin' I can readily keep myself fed and watered during the trip, and neither are likely right now." she said, nodding at the fireplace where they were having to thaw water for drinking. They had a fair amount of refugees at the Council Hall, but they were handling the all right at the moment. They'd always kept a good amount of food and bedding at the Council Hall in case of long, overnight meetings, and while they weren't likely to have any of those since they'd abandoned the usual meeting format, they'd kept the supplies on hand, since they already had them. Which was turning out to be rather a large help at the time. "I can get around town safely enough, though. I'll stop by the Adunih and see what they need, then check in at the Element Hall. They might have a sled or the like that I can hook up the familiars. I can use that to move any spare supplies about. I'll also check in on Cally's, Faith built that place and so it's got decent odds of havin' extra stuff on hand." she said, her tone thoughtful. "One question, though, how am I gettin' out of here to go on my walkabout?" she asked, gesturing at the windows, which were currently showing that the snow was halfway burying the council building.
Birch smiled slightly at Kura's question. "Out an attic window." she said, slightly pleased to have anticipated the Albarech. Granted, most people avoided the attic of the Scalvoris Council building, since it was considered spooky and maybe haunted, but Birch didn't figure that would deter Kura at all. Kura was technically haunted herself, even if most everyone had gotten used to Cally by now, and she wasn't the type of person to be deterred by the occasional spooky happening. Kura, who did know about the stories regarding the attic and had largely chocked them up to the general weirdness of Scalvoris, nodded. She'd been sort of kidnapped by ghost pirates once, so even discounting Cally, she wasn't going to be bothered by a little spookiness.
"All right, then. I'll leave Cally and the owls here and be on my way." she said, getting a nod from Birch. The Albarech's two owls, which occasionally led to people calling her the "owlbarech" as a joke, couldn't fly in this weather, and Cally had taken charge of making sure that everyone had blankets and was getting sufficient food. With the day's agenda settled, Kura put on her coat, more out of habit than any other reason, and headed up into the attic. Fortunately, there was no need to watch out for spookiness at the moment and Kura made it out an attic window without any poltergeist problems. Once out in the streets, or rather over them, Kura looked around and let out a slow breath. "Stay on diggin' duty, you lot. No tellin' how packed this snow is." she said to her wolves, before she took off in the direction of the Adunih outpost.
As it turned out, the snow was reasonably packed and she wasn't at a huge amount of danger of falling into the snow, so she instead had her wolves manifest and sniff around for any signs of people. This proved to be largely futile, as the weather basically smothered the scent of anyone that might have been caught under the snows. Kura let out a sigh, knowing that there was almost certainly people she couldn't help because she didn't know they were there. She very resolutely put that to the back of her mind, however. She had not spent over a century telling people not to worry about things that they couldn't affect to not follow her own advice. Right now, she'd just have to focus on what she could do.
Which in the immediate sense, turned out to be getting a little lost. She knew Scalvoris Town pretty well, or so she thought, but she mostly knew it from the ground level, not so much when she was at eye level with most of the roofs around her and they were all covered in snow. This conundrum led her to pause and think about the layout of the city for a minute, pacing so that she didn't get buried due to inactivity. She eventually got her bearings by realizing that buildings would all be in the same place still, and most of the really major buildings were a few stories tall. With some help from her wolves, Kura was able to figure out that she was, currently, standing about a foot out on the water by the docks and what she'd thought had been an inn had actually been a ship. "Well, at least I know the water is frozen and holdin' weight." she said, shaking her head before starting back into town proper. She did get turned around a few more times, but she eventually found her way to the Adunih outpost.
They turned out to have had the sense to keep an eye through their own attic windows and opened one to let the Albarech in, before ushering her down to speak with the local leaders of the hospital. She explained the communiciation issues they were having at the moment, but brought them up to speed on the news from the Council Building. Then they discussed the supplies they needed, which mostly turned out to be warm clothes and firewood for the moment. The Adunih was divided into smaller rooms than the Council Building, so it was draining their firewood supply keeping all the rooms warm, and they had a lot of the refugees. A lot of people were willing to help, but their ability to brave the storm was more limited by the clothing issue. Kura nodded and said she would get them what supplies she could and would be visiting every so often over the next couple of days to keep everyone informed. The Adunih agreed to that and told her what had been going on in their neck of the woods so that she could keep others informed.
Once all that was done, she headed back out into the storm and was prepared to swear that the snow had gotten deeper since she'd been in the Adunih building. It was going to be a problem if this kept up. For now though, she focused on getting to the Element Hall, a process that involved her getting lost a few more times and at one point accidentally almost leaving the city, only stopping when she scrambled over a raised bit and realized she'd just hauled herself onto the city wall. "...well, then." she said, sighing slightly and turning back into the city. She eventually found her way to the Element Hall, who were also monitoring their attic windows, and was admitted to meet with the local Assistants.
The Element Hall, as it turned out, was doing fine for the time being. Being a military headquarters, they were actually better stocked on food than the Council Building and had a notable surplus of warm clothes because of military redundancy, even with their own refugees. After bringing them up to speed on what was happening at the Council Building and the Adunih outpost, the Assistants had some of their Elements, helped some of eager volunteers, box up a good number of their surplus clothes and take them up to the attic, where a sled was found and loaded. With some help, she got her three wolves hooked up to the sled so that they could pull it. One thing the Element Hall didn't have in abundance, however, was firewood. While they did have more than the Adunih, they also had a lot of smaller rooms to deal with.
Now loaded with supplies, Kura gotten the sled and wolves out the attic window, with the help of an improvised ramp, and set off into the storm again. One of the assistants, hearing of her navigational problems, had given the Albarech a map of the town to help her get around easier. This turned out to help a lot and Kura made to Cally's, her next stop, with only a few instances of getting turned around. They were also watching their attic, which wasn't as much help due to Cally's being a shorter building. A little digging help from Phelan got her into the restaurant, however, and talking to the people running the place. She brought them up to speed, and they agreed to help. They had an excess of firewood, being a restaurant and needing to run a lot of ovens will do that, but they weren't doing as great on warm clothes for their own refugees. Kura agreed to swap some warm clothes for firewood, and a few stronger refugees and cooks that already had warm clothes helped her make the exchange on the sled.
Once the exchange was made, Kura headed for the Adunih outpost and managed that without very much difficulty, since she already knew what the outpost looked like at what currently counted for ground level. With a little help from the orderlies and stronger refugees, she got the sled into the Adunih attic, where they could unload all the supplies in relative warmth. The doctors at the outpost were definitely happy to have the supplies, and Kura had promised all of the places she'd been that she'd be back the next day to check on everyone. With that guarantee in place, Kura got some help getting her sled back outside again, then set off back towards the Council Hall at long last.
When she got back, she opened up some extra windows and had the wolves drag the sled all the way into the attic, glad to see that Birch had decided to put some of the refugees to work by having them keep watch in the attic as well. They were clearly more nervous about it than Kura had been, but they were doing well enough, and Kura promised that if the door vanished on them, something that had apparently happened before, she'd darn well chop into the attic to rescue them. This warning also delivered to any potential ghosts in the attic, with the promise that they could go back to their usual hauntings after the current crisis passed, Kura went down into the main building and spoke to Birch, bringing her up to speed on everything that was going on at the Element Hall, Adunih Outpost, and Cally's.
With her work done, Kura flopped into a chair and took a bowl of stew gratefully when Cally brought to her. She had taken water at the stops she had made, but had declined food and was thus quite hungry. "Well, that's what we can do for the day. And probably about what I'll be doin' every day until the weather clears enough for us to do any more. I can't even get into regular buildin's to get them any supplies right now, and none of the inns have windows I can access. Too small for me to get through." she said, shaking her head.
Birch, who'd had the good manners not to laugh too much when Kura had admitted to getting lost several times throughout the day, nodded. "Aye. Once the storm breaks, we can see what we more we can do. Might have to start worrying about repairs once that happens as well." she said, before shaking her head. "For now though, you eat and rest. Once the weather does break, we'll need your head as much as your cold immunity. People are going to be scared and worried about their loved ones, and that's not getting into people in desperate need of supplies or shelter." she said. Kura nodded. Both women had been on the Council during prior crises situations, so they new what they would be needing to do once the storm broke. For now, though, they would just have to do what they could.
