The journey to the next tribe on the map was similarly annoying, fighting the wind's ever changing directions. He eventually found a town made up of many hide tents with holes in the tops. He planned on looking for one with smoke rising from it, but he couldn't judge them from afar, and they all seemed too small to contain more than a few people.
Felix eventually just opened the flap on the largest tent right at the center of all the others. Inside he found what he thought were humans but not quite. They had hair or fur all over their bodies.
The inside of the tent was more spacious than Felix was expecting as the ground was dug out almost five feet down.
"The hell are you doing, it's a blizzard out there, don't you know."
Felix stepped inside, closed the flap and carefully stepped down the stairs into the room. It was circular, about three meters across, with the only things in the room being people, a fire and the stairs to get in. On the fire was a cooking pot and around it sat five hairy people.
"Hello, I am a traveler and I'm here to find the Frozen God's Mercy and return it to the tribes."
"Why wouldn't you just steal it? Why would we believe you want to help us?"
"Uh, I don't know… I don't want it?"
Another of them chimed in, "I mean I'll take any help I can get. I'd much rather be laying in the park than here huddled up with you lot. It smells awful and I'm tired of pretending it don't. What do you need from us?"
"How many people are there in this tribe?"
"24. Actually, 23 now."
"Alright, now I'm going to ask everyone, just to be sure, did you steal the staff? Do you know where The Frozen God's Mercy is?"
Felix asked everyone in this tent then moved on to each of the tents he could see until he had asked 23 hairy people. He had to go scour for the last tent which was built slightly further away from the center tent than the rest, which Felix found very annoying.
Felix trudged through the snow and fought the wind over to the last tribe. His map indicated that he had arrived when he found himself in front of a large ice wall with a closed gate in front of it.
Well shit, I can't just jump the wall cause then the wind is gonna send me off into no where. I can't get them to open the gate cause there probably isn't anyone manning it right now and I really don't wanna wait out the storm. Oh god I know what I have to do, I am acknowledging now that this is gonna be really stupid.
Felix walked all the way up to the wall and waited for the wind to change directions. As soon as it did, he cast mana shield and faced the wind head on. Then he cast jump with much more mana than necessary and flew twenty meters into the air, twice as high as he needed to get over the wall. He cast Gust repeatedly to try and push himself inside the wall and cast Feather Fall to catch himself once he was over.
Inside the wall, it was like the storm didn't exist. It was still windy and some snow made it in, but the majority of the village within the wall was under an overhang of ice attached to the mountain above. The drastic difference in climate from having the wind alone blocked, was very welcome.
The houses in this tribe were all inset in the ice. There was no more than a few wooden doors and a couple windows to indicate there was anything here at all. Felix walked up to the door that was flanked by the two windows with light flickering through them and knocked on the door.
Nothing happened for a couple minutes so Felix knocked again. He was about to knock again, harder this time when the door opened right in front of him. Standing in the doorway was a four foot tall humanoid with pale blue skin and white hair tied in a bun. They sported dark blue tattoos crisscrossing along their bodies. The one holding the door open wore leather pants with white fluff sticking out from the waist and ankles and brown leather boots. They didn't wear anything above the waist.
The one holding the door looked back over their shoulder, "See, I told ye thereby somebody knockin at the door."
"Well where the hell did they come from?"
"How am I supposed ter know that?"
"Ye aren't, yer supposed to let em in and close the damn door so we don't freeze our damn asses off."
The small humanoid pulled Felix into the room and closed the door behind him. Felix looked around at a large room with a ceiling much taller than he expected at around two meters. Inset into the wall on the far side of the room was a fire place made of stone. All of the walls around it were a single block of ice, as if everything in here was dug out of a glacier without adding anything back afterwards.
Looking to the right and left through doorways on either wall, Felix realized the entire village was a single interconnected building.
"Uh, hello. I am a traveler and I am hoping to help the three tribes find The Frozen God's Mercy."
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"Aren'ya glad I heard em knocking now?"
"I was glad before when it turned out he existed. Just cause I didn't believe you doesn't make you the god king emperor supreme of the universe for being right you know."
"Oh, doesn't it?"
The other humanoid was similar in appearance except they had wider hips and wore their hair down around their shoulders. They wore the same thing as the one who opened the door, with no top, which was thoroughly confusing for Felix.
I'm pretty sure that one is female, the voice and hips give it away. They uh… have no breasts though? So either, females of this race don't have mammary glands, have them somewhere else, or that one isn't female. I can't just ask them can I? I guess it's a dungeon construct so-
"Yer wonderin if she's female? She's. First time you've seen one of us Frostmyre is't? Always the same reaction with you mammalians. Go 'head, ask us how birth and child care works."
"I was wondering, but no thank you. I just wasn't sure if I should refer to her as a her. I think I can live a happy life never knowing any of the rest of that though."
"All knowledge is useful, but suit yourself."
I agree, but I would much rather read a book than ask them.
"Anyways, moving on. I need to ask you all point blank if you took the staff. How many of you are there in this tribe?"
"Er, 34 now is it?"
"Yep."
Felix proceeded to ask them one by one the same questions he had already asked everyone from the other tribes. The building consisted of single hallway running along the outer wall and rooms attached to that the whole way down. Some of the rooms were segmented off with doors that contained entire apartments with sub rooms inside of them and others were completely open.
Feels like walking around an airport or something. It's kind of cool.
Alright so I asked everyone and my earrings confirmed that no one took the staff and no one knows where it is. If that's the case, then something outside of the tribes must have taken it I guess.
To be sure, Felix opened his quest screen.
Quest Dungeon A
Three tribes have lived harmoniously in The Shivering Expanse for generations. Just yesterday, the divine treasure that kept them all safe disappeared. The tribes seem to be blaming each-other and war is on the horizon.
(1/6) Figure out what happened.
(2/6) Talk to The Frostman Horde. [Complete]
(3/6) Talk to The Ivory Axe Clan. [Complete]
(4/6) Talk to The Frostmyre Tribe. [Complete]
(5/6) Find the Frozen God's Mercy.
Still haven't figured out what happened. Guess I go to the scene of the crime.
Felix left the complex and had the Frostmyre open the gate for him so he didn't have to jump and headed towards the geographic center of the three tribe markings on his map.
After another fight with the wind, Felix found himself where he was fairly confident the staff had been. As he walked, there was grass underneath the snow instead of ice, dirt and rocks like there was everywhere else. He wasn't sure the exact location of the staff, but he was at least near where it would have been.
Felix took a long drink of hot cinnamon apple tea from his flask as he pondered the issue at hand.
How the hell am I supposed to track this stupid thing down? I guess if it's a normal person, they don't have this cloak so they probably wait out the blizzard with one of the tribes. Once the blizzard passes most of the evidence here would have been blown away or covered over. The tribes probably start fighting at that point, at least the ivory axes do. Then they would have to figure out what happened and keep the tribes from fighting. So what the hell else could you possibly find that would point you in any direction? I hope it's not some anecdote I have to wait to hear about. Maybe then they can track a path of melted ice beneath the snow? Not sure I have that option unless I wait out the blizzard.
Ok different track, I am a divine magical staff with a crazy effect. I have to be consuming ridiculous amounts of mana right? I mean, I guess it could just be System fuckery. Ok I can work with it consuming mana.
Felix double checked that he was standing where he wanted to be on his map and closed his eyes. He walked in an outward spiral and tried to feel the mana around him. He walked around in a circle over and over again and even restarted a few times because he figured he must have missed something. Eventually, once his loops were almost a kilometer in radius, he felt the mana change. He double checked the distances to be sure.
I should have guessed, it's divine, it has a massive area of effect. It consumed the mana in a huge radius. I should have started way out here. Well, those are a few hours I will never get back.
Felix walked in a circle around where the staff should have been. Now that he knew what to look for, he immediately noticed it. What he felt was the ambient mana all flowing in one direction. It was slight, but it was like it was still trying to even itself out and fill the void where the staff had been. The staff was carried out in a direction, which meant the mana was generally flowing inwards along the path. It was similar to the wake of a boat. Except this boat was multiple kilometers across so the mana was still recovering almost a day later.
I wonder if the mana is causing or making the blizzard worse than it would normally be. I'm assuming the trainer here will be a mana trainer, maybe they can tell me. I really should have asked for them earlier. Maybe this was better, find the staff sooner so I can keep the tribes from massacring each-other?
Felix followed the path of mana away from the villages. If ever he veered off to a side, he felt the mana unilaterally flowing in one direction so he moved with it. If he felt it flowing towards him from both sides, he was on the right path. Having the ambient mana as a guide was the only way this was possible given the blizzard constantly trying to push him around in every which direction.
Felix followed the path of converging mana for about ten kilometers before it led him into a cave.
I swear if it's a yeti in there, I am not going to be happy with your creativity Mr. System. Wait, does The System come up with these scenarios itself or is it recreating situations that have happened in the past?
Felix almost turned around when he got to the cave because the ambient mana stopped converging and instead flowed into the cave. Ultimately, he went inside because as he approached, he realized just how fast it mana was rushing into the cave. Instead of the casual flow he tracked all the way here, the mana flowing the cave was being pulled actively, like the air leaving a balloon. There was a void inside the cave, and the ambient mana was being pulled to fill it.
Well, the staff is almost definitely in there.
Felix cautiously walked into the cave, careful to watch for any movement. It was relatively easy to find the staff, even though the cave was a massive open cavern with rock formations everywhere, as he just had to follow the mana. . . . . .