The unnatural mixture of cold and not dying of cold continues to hold in the corridors of the glacier-bound palace. A chill wind blows air that was still, the last time anyone tried this part of the palace. Of the missing, perhaps dying, Garin, there is no sign as yet.

Amy is tired, exhausted, but they have made it back to the palace without being grabbed by the fountain and dragged here. "I think - this is it," she says. In the corridor, she doesn't shiver at the chill wind, but she does square her shoulders. "Where's that wind coming from?" she asks first.

Danielle hms, trying to pull her thoughts "Well Garen was trying to approximate her distancefrom the music room so we endeavor to make our are way back there and go from there. It is possible that Garen's Jailor has picked up on her communication The barman seemed friendly. Is it possible we're dealing with multiple factions even in this desolation

Amy pauses to look at Danielle, considering what she says. "It - I don't know if there was a jailor," she observes. "Didn't Garin say she was hiding out here?"

Danielle hms "That's true but she also said the place felt like it was being maintend by someone and an ice monster was trying to attack her, so I'm more than a bit confused. Anyway, music room is that way, right?"

Amethyst rolls with advantage -1 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts.
The result is a success.

There is a feel of cold to the wind which bites through the protection of this place, bringing snow to settle on faces and hands. To Amethyst, however, it seems that the wind is doing something else. It is dropping that snow on the floor, covering up recent footprints. The snow is filling them in, but not falling where the footprints are not. A strange, strange thing.

amy laughs softly. "It is confusing, that's for sure," she agrees. Now she continues down the hall, trying to figure out where the breeze is coming from, as she heads towards the music room. She frowns, though, looking at the ground. "Dani, the snow - it's filling in footprints - making it hard to remember where we've been. Or if someone else has been here. Do you see footbrints other than ours?" She looks more carefully at the footprints before they're all gone.

Danielle rolls with advantage -1 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts.
The result is a success.

Just as Amethyst asks that question, Danielle sees a touch of pink that does not belong, a spray of what could almost be roses among eye-level floral decoration that is otherwise frosted white. It is just the wrong colour, but that wrongness is slowly fading.

Danielle hms "trying to make us lose are way are you? "yep she's doing it again it again. She dashes forerward suddenly trying to reach a particular spot,reaching a hand for it

"Doing what again?" Amy asks, but as Dani moves forward, she moves with her, curiously.

The red spot is a splatter. Blood. But Amy was watching the footprints a moment before - just where Danielle is standing now were some prints of court shoes; modest heels and slightly pointed toes. Someone who does not wear winter boots was here. There are other prints just like that, here and there.

Danielle hms "I think Garen or her magic is trying to guide us and someone or something ese is trying to make us lose or way

Amy goes back to the footprints. "Look here," she says. "This doesn't belong to us - not winter boots at all." And then she frowns. "Pointy toes - why do people wear shoes like that?" And then she finds another, just a bit away. "There are more of them - maybe we can follow them?"

Then Danielle's hand touches the blood, and the embodied energy in it jumps to her; she guessed right, and this is another tag. This one is not so smart, just a desperate tug that settles around her ring finger and tries to tug her hand.

The footprints speed up, or at least, get further apart, as Amy follows them with her eyes.

Danielle's eyes widen "It's Garen, bleeding and possibly pursued by the looks of it. We should hurry" she lets herself be tugged along

Amy starts to follow those footsteps, as it's easy to tell pointy toes out - which way to go. "C'mon, let's go help her!" she calls urgently. Tired? What? Not any more. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.

The way is easy to follow, first of all because there are footprints that are still fresh here and there, and second because Danielle has something that is pointing the way, although it tried to lead her through walls. Thirdly, however, it is easy because there is an INCREDIBLE trail of destruction. Just around the next bend, massive doors have been lifted from their frames and toppled onto twisted ice-giants. An ancient, well-worn gladius is embedded in the wall, and given that the wall is solid teak at that point, this is no mean feat. The wall is singed and glows with pale moonlight. The entire corridor beyond this initial scene is not so much totalled as summed, double-checked, and handed to the tax office for checking. Where the glacier that embraces the palace got too close to the wall, it has melted, and flowed through - half of the outer wall is missing. Down at the other end, there is a blackened, charred mass that might once have been several statues.

It looks like someone does not do things by halves, when threatened. The footprints - where they appear - go backwards here.

Amy's eyes widen as she spies the massive destruction, but she keeps going forward. "Good grief, imagine if Mortimer's and Kynan's magic gets this crazy," she murmurs. For her part, she heals, so she doesn't have any such thing, right? Right. Sorta. So she currently thinks. She doesn't tire though, moving athletically and quickly. Dressed for the cold, her boots have just the right grip to move through the snow, and she doesn't seem cold at all. The gladius gets a shake of her head, as does the missing half of the wall. "This does not look good."

Danielle rushes along doing her best to keep amy's pace "Let's hope garen is simply a much stronger mage than we imagined or we could have being trouble shortly. I have not a ghost of a chance of matching who did this in my present condition, hell not in my best condition

The tug is beginning to be downwards, in Danielle's hand. And then they find out why. A wall? Only amateurs blow out walls. The floor. The floor is where the real action is... Now the footprints are joined by others, which are more lumps of snow and ice than actual prints. They lead, together, over the edge of a broken balcony, and into a room below. Wisps of what might be cold steam rise up, like warm air hitting a cold front.

The salon has three things in it; shattered wood, a pentagram made of ice that contains a very battered half naked wizard dressed in the remains of black clothes, and a tall woman apparently made of ice, who has a cold blue javelin she throws the instant she can see a target; in this case, Amy.

Danielle skids to a stop put only for a moment creeping carefully toward the edge to have a look below

Amethyst rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 22, using athletics, pattern initiate and spending will.
The result is a success.

Danielle, looking more carefully, can see that it is Garin down there, held down by magic and ice together; the ice glows, and there is a lot of blood, and she is still alive.

Danielle looks around for something heavy to drop on the woman's head from above using magical assist of course

Amy doesn't hesitate. The pattern has been at the edges of her consciousness, because she uses it all the time to concentrate when she's flagging. It's a habit. Seeing the floor has her call the pattern to her, giving her an oomph she might not otherwise. She can hear the roar in her head as she launches herself up, somersaulting in midair. She is only sort of aware that the roar is an actual physical thing as she aims herself at the ice woman throwing the javelin at her with almost predatory reaction that Amy displays... almost never. The javelin is not dodged, it strikes with the precision its thrower intended.

There's a sheer moment of pause, but Amy's roar gets louder instead of her crumbling. The blue ice javelin impacts Amy's chest, and then it seems to morph, shifting and enveloping the woman in blue ice scales that look both like armour and ... wait SCALES? The petite healer's momentum is not slowed in the slightest.

There are a lot of things here to throw, although the most obvious one is the woman already in mid flight. Most of the others are smaller and have already been impacted at least once.

The tug in Danielle's hand is hard now, insistent; it wants to get to Garin.

Danielle rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 22, using occult,sorcery and spending will.
The result is a success.

A dragon to the chest can often offend. It drives the breath out of the woman, who falls over backwards, shatters, and reforms as the ice dances back together. Crazy cracks stay in her, frosting internally and steaming like dry ice on the outside. She swings a hand at Amethyst, and the hand becomes a sharp blade as she does.

Danielle grits her teeth and responds to the tug "I know I know. Gimee a a damn minute will ya. I'm rusty and magic doesn't like me here. Will get her i promise?'she is only vaguely processing that her healer friend has become a dragon as she endeavors to get to garen but marshalling the wind becomes easier with the ice mage distracted and dani jumps but not into freefall riding a wave of wind like a surfboard toward the ground

Amy is not the fighting type, but she's got a dragon roaring in her ears, and she's seeing blue. or purple, more like. "You need to back off," she growls, and there is a difference to her voice, a harsher sound than is usually there - her singing chops are going to regret this. "before you regret it." Solid icy determination and stubbornness in her purple eyes. She does at least move to dodge that blade, not really wanting to be cut at all. But her counter is to raise her hand like there are claws on it, and swipe back. She's going to need a therapist after this.

The wind blows upwards, violently, taking away some of the inner cold that the woman has, and whipping it into the air and away. Dani lands. It is a short dash to where Garin is. Meanwhile Amy finds that her hand does not impact against the ice woman, but *something* does. Blue sparks fly, the woman is clawed, and there is a shout of pain from her that sounds just like Garin shouting. Four neat score-marks are along her arm, and she is bleeding water.

Danielle blinks not sure what is happening as she starts her steps forward toward where garen lays

There is an ice pentagram, smoking now with the powers in the room, and in it Garin, left arm almost pulped, struggles against her bonds. "JUST FUCKING BLOW THE PLACE," she yells, even as a chunk of ice, whipped up by the wind, sprays off the pentagram without being able to get in.

"Let her go," Amy follows up with. She's guessing, hopefully she's not wrong. "Dani, get her out!" Amy's expecting to be a distraction here, and she is putting herself between Dani and the battered, half-naked person in a pentagram she barely saw as she came to the ground. Blow the place .. "Do you think we know how?" she promptly yells. "Got a newsflash for you!" She doesn't take her eyes off the ice woman with the knife hand, but Amy is a bit more defensive now.

The ice woman says to Amethyst, quite reasonably, "I will let you leave if you go now."

Danielle hms "No way we've come all this way we're getting you out of here. She examines the circle for its anchors to disrupt its power as she reaches its edge "what do I need to do

Anchors. Five of them. Ice. Of course. "It takes an effort of will. Break it. AND DIVE." Garin cannot move her left hand at all, but she goes all-out to flip the bird at the ice woman with her right, despite the frozen manacles that keep her attached to the floor.

Amy's smile is near feral as she looks at the ice woman. "Make me," is all she says. "You won't win." Certainty in her eyes, despite what she doesn't know. But well, the will power she's bringing to bear is strong, and the dragon that has been awakened is irate. "You had your warning." And now, Amy, realizing that Dani needs time, goes on the attack. She lunges at the mage's throat, the image of snapping jaws able to break through skulls in her mind, teeth sharp and - yeah, she's definitely needing a therapist, whether or not this works.

Danielle nods "Right. Why'd we have to lose the fire mage" she focuses her thoughts on the first anchor

For Danielle, thoughts slip sideways. Ice is tricky, and this was made by a mistress of craft, but Danielle can manipulate power in ways that she could not imagine, and... there is a tiny part that is rough, half melted and then frozen sharp in a way that screams 'Garin'. The tug in her hand leads to it but she could see it already, because all things are clear to her in this cold air. It just needs pushing right. Meanwhile, the ice woman ducks under Amethyst, brings up a foot, launches the dragon into the air and the wall, and springs for her, only to find out that another claw has connected, and her shoulder and face are scratched. Mist pours from her now like blood, along with the water.

And the ice circle breaks, and the mage inside it grabs for the nearest fragment of wood, uses it as a wand, and starts breaking her own bonds, right up until she faints from the pain a few moments later.

Amy goes flying with a boot to her midsection. there's a flash of blue though, the print of the boot shining on Amy's midriff for a moment, but that scaly blue armour holds. In midair, catlike, Amy twists to land on her feet. She can't change her direction to fly at the mage, but she lands on her feet, the ice woman right there with her. Unfortunately for the ice woman, because Amy strikes. As she comes up from that landing, her hands lash out, and claws strike again, which brings the ice woman crumbling to the ground. Mist rises up from the crumbled body and dissipates, Amy standing victorious with another of those mental roars that can be heard, victorious dragon trumpeting to anyone who would dare challenge her.

There's a path of destruction leading to a blown out balcony. Below this, there's what's left of a pentagram, a battered half naked Garin who is free, but unconscious, a Dani who is there guarding her. There's a body of a blue ice woman, dead now, and crumpled with what looks like claw scratches ... BIG claw scratches. And there's an Amy standing victorious. Still human, but with an ice blue scaly armour ... from somewhere. With the excitement over, adrenaline starts to fade, and Amy slumps a bit. "Gods," she starts, "Or Unicorn, my throat hurts, and I really hope there are no more of those." She moves to check on Garin next. But she's moving slowly.

Dirk walks in and looks at Amy. He runs over to her. "You got your DRAGON on!"

The mental roar probably reverberated through a lot of the ice in this palace. She looks to Dirk and smiles. "I did," she says. Voice harsh, like her vocal cords are in pain. "And we found Garin. You okay?"

Dirk dances around "Always unless I am not and those times don't count."

Amy smiles. She is checking Garin over, seeing what the damage is. "Ouch," is her official assessment. "Good," she says. "I think we'll all be okay, but poor Garin has a lot of healing to do. Dirk, can you stand guard for us? There was an ice woman - thing. She - " Amy gestures to the body. "We managed, but I couldn't face another one, I don't think."

Dirk says "of course I will. Need a hug?"

Dirk's question has Amy look down and stare at the blue scales. "uhm. I'm not sure ... " she starts, but the blue scales start to fade out, slowly, the energy fading. "Yes," she says. "I think I do need a hug."

Dirk offers a warm hug and snuggles.

Amy doesn't seem injured visibly, but she's feeling it. She leans in and gives Dirk a nice friendly hug. "Thanks, Dirk." After a moment, she moves though. "I have a patient who needs me." She swallows, and then says, "Water, that might help. My throat feels like sharp ice sizzled through it."

Dirk use a flint and steel with some shards of wood to start a little fire.

Amy doesn't have magical oomph at the moment, due to using it all up temporarily in the fight with the ice witch. "This is why others are supposed to fight," she mutters. "Can't heal a hangnail like this." But she can still diagnose and triage, and so she does that. "Do we have blankets and such to make this poor woman more comfortable?" she starts. She stares at Garin's left arm for a long time, blinking as her healing senses are so integral to her that she can see ... well, that's just wild. "I - okay, that's going to take some healing time. But a little warmth is - " She turns to smile at Dirk. "Thank you, that's a great idea."

Dirk gives up a fur for her. "Here. I am ok with one less." He looks away.

Amy's not using the fur for herself, but for the patient. Amy herself is not cold, but she's got a patient suffering bloodloss and cold and .. yeah, poor Garin.

Dirk says, "She likes me cause I have loose morals."

Amy grins at that. "I bet she'll like you more once she's healthier." Or at least uninjured and not in pain. Amy finds something to sit on, staying with Garin for now, as she has run out of energy.