The run continued with an added dose of negativity after Claude's freeze up against the gnolls.
Having a fear of all things wolf-like— aside from Frosty, would put a serious blockade on his road to…
Wherever he was going in life.
Before his mind could go anywhere worse in ideas, he focused on the scent. Thanks to the traits he borrowed from the aged steppe-bear with his (Beast-Trait) skill.
He'd never borrowed traits from a bear. It was similar to the wolf. An increase in sense of smell, a loss of color in vision and expanding of the lungs. But Claude could also feel his bones thicken drastically— especially in his forearms and fingers. Priming him to utilize his deadly talon-like bear-claws.
Thanks to his experience with pit-wolves, the lingering ursine madness was manageable.
Good, even.
It felt better to be angry than to be sad.
As they traveled, the scents flowed. He could see it in his minds eye. A trail of chemical color, faded and beneath feet of snow.
Frosty and the bear used their massive bulk to smash through the frozen layers of snow and bring out the scents below.
It was the only thing that allowed them all to notice the sudden turn in trajectory.
After how long they'd charged northward, the change was enough to push their speed and make the arrival to the next cave sooner than what would've been estimated.
It wasn't like the last cave. It wasn't big and damp and cavernous. It was smaller, angling out of the earth like a hood and covered in ice.
The iced covering was only noticed after Claude hopped off of Frosty and swept away the snow with his pawed hand.
It was then that he gasped at the sight of the ice. Or more accurately what was in it.
"A person…"
"[A wyldman.]" Arne said.
Upon further inspection, Claude agreed. He wore animal pelts and held a belt of glacial herbs. Not to mention he had fangs, egregious bone structuring and excessive body-hair. All traits that came from a magically harsh enviroment and inhuman involvement that coaxed the mana in a humans body towards inhuman transformation. Similar to how monsters terraform the earth. The same can be done to humans.
"Wyldmen are rare in glacial regions. I thought they didn't exist." Claude said. Frosty and the bear sniffed around behind him.
"[They are in glacial regions, but the white-steppe wasn't always glacial. Cold, sure, but glacial? No. The slow change probably allowed individuals to evolve with it. Plus, the white-steppe's wildlife and habitat is different from most. I should know, I've had my dealings out here.]"
"You did?" Claude asked as he knocked on the ice.
"[The one who changed me. He set up challenges for me. Most Lupines of my time were in a rush to expand a race— to fulfill Romulus' dream. As a result they mostly ran around forests and wildlands offering the bite to vagrants…. and even wyldmen like this one. But the one who changed me, he had a different approach. He said he didn't make Lupines, he made alphas.]"
"He put all his energy into you." Claude surmised.
"[And me alone. I was sent all over to travel and survive and learn my limits without a pack. To lead is to be a master of one's self first and foremost….. it's what he believed. I spent…. seventy-four days here. It wasn't so white in my time. Still cold ass bollocks, though. I had to deal with wyld-shamans who huffed berry dyed drugs and used the power of prehistoric beast-pelts to become Necro-shifters. Nasty bunch. Extinct, I presume. Again.]"
"Is that a pun?" Claude asked.
"[Probably.]"
"Well," Claude studied the wyldman in the ice, "He's not wearing the pelt of anything prehistoric so—" He trailed off as he noticed something.
At the same time behind him, Frosty dug through the snow and pulled out another dead wyldman.
"[Well that's…. harrowing.]"
Claude swept away more of the ice until he could see the wyldman's hand. In his clawed grip, a thick lock of blonde hair was held tightly. He could see the dried bloods on the end where it was torn from a scalp.
Another detail. Another clue. Only this one wasn't likely to end wholesomely.
The bear was beside Claude suddenly. Madness clear in her white eyes. In her flared nostrils.
She rose up and roared before smashing her front legs into the ice wall, shattering the perpetrator frozen within and making way for their entrance into the cave.
Claude fought through his own rising ursine rage and sifted through the shards until he found the hand with the locket of hair.
He held it to his nose. Same scent. The trail in his minds eye thickened. He kept the severed frozen hand holding the hair in his grip as he gazed down the dark cave.
"[Chances we find another maternal creature to help us avenge this child?]"
"Here? Zero. This cave was a battleground." Claude's stomach grumbled at the smell of blood. "But it looks like…. she won?"