Warrior, up ahead, wheeled wide-eyed at the emergence of the worm. He could only barely see its shape, brief and terrible, as it swept up and into the air and crashed back down; and he had no intention of hanging around to see what might happen next.

The young stallion wheeled, his blood bay coat a beacon in the white, and he lurched into a stumbling gallop through the thick snow. Nostrils flared as he fought to suck enough air into his lungs, to power his fevered flight. His magicka flared outward even as he ran, and he saw, like scents, like ideas, the faint pulse of more nearby creatures bloom up blood-red in his senses. Sand worms left, he thought, the group nearby, birds and deer and mice right-... He couldn't see far--the magic hadn't come strongly enough for that--but it was enough to keep him oriented.

"THIS WAY," he called.

He looked back only briefly, enough to see the clustered group; he did not notice the one who had fallen behind.

Who had, perhaps, fallen.

Warrior will be staying with the group and moving across the Dunes, should he succeed.

The white beast had never felt fear--not like this. She'd been larger than most things she had ever encountered but this... this dwarfed her. She caught only the briefest glimpse of rows of razor teeth and a behemoth body like a cave come alive, and that was enough to send her into her fastest, most frantic rush. Snow plowed up to either side, and her muscles bunched and surged, her small white wings spreading to help her keep her balance as she huffed and charged onward.

Wide eyes were blinded by snow, offering only the briefest glimpse of the pathways ahead. Ivory went blindly, only glancing back to check on Shida, to ensure she remained close to her sister.

"STAY CLOSE-!" she bellowed, though she had no idea where she was going. Shida did not immediately answer. She wheeled, about to repeat herself, to check on her sister, only to find nothing but snow.

Ivory wheeled the other way.

...Snow.

The white beast snorted, turning this way, then that, but nothing but blinding white--in every direction--greeted her. With a grunt she picked a path, and set down it at a stubborn trot, fear driving her blindly onward.

Ivory will be staying with the group and moving across the Dunes if successful. is lost lmao

By the Caves, the chicken was out of her mind. It would be a miracle for anyone to have survived... whatever that was. But if she had survived, there was no way she hadn't been hit by that massive creature, and if she had been injured, there was no way she would survive out in these conditions.

"Are you out there?" Wynter bayed, stalking through the snow, braced against the harsh winds. "Friend-- do you live? Where are you?!" He couldn't spend too long trying to find her, lest he succumb to her fate as well-- but he could not simply abandon her.

Unfortunately, among the snow, he could not find her. Maybe she had been swallowed whole, or dragged down into the ice. He searched the blizzard, but by now, he did not know where the others were, and he certainly did not know his way out of the storm.

"Hello?!"

WYNTER HASIRA
Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying

press f to pay respects

It felt good. Even with the biting cold, the cockatrice's chest swelled with warmth. Their blood was pumping. Their goal was clear. The Crucible wasn't much farther; just beyond the ice-covered dunes. With each breath, they knew they were getting closer.

But the warmth wasn't lasting. They tried to summon heat from their lungs, from the magic in their gem, but there wasn't enough to keep them going. The biting cold started to freeze over their feathers, and a weight hit them like a truck. With a grimace, the mandible-beaked rooster was forced to extend their legs and land into the sand.

They were glad they made the choice to go across the dunes-- at least they knew it well, and wouldn't have to deal with the dangerous quicksand of the marshes. Just ahead, however, it seemed like Desert had finally managed to overtake them.

Well, well. They couldn't keep trying to fly like this, even if it meant a difficult climb over the last stretch to the Crucible.

silly gatto you can't use magic; not advancing due to failure but? picking dunes?

bad mouth mustelid

The only thing Fisher knew, was that one of the red blips had collided with the massive worm, and past that-- he lost them. He winced, baring his teeth as he hauled ass away from the retreating living-train. He was pretty sure he could scare that beastie off with one good blast of lightning, but he'd rather not have to try.

Fisher did his best to stick by the main group, fur bristling as they made their way towards the dunes. The storm was weaning, but in its wake came the stinging, burning cold. He could feel the adrenaline wearing thin, and exhaustion trying to come with it, so it was all he could do to summon the strength to keep going.

Thankfully, a tap of his magic, and while he was no longer keeping a good, careful eye on what threats were coming, he was able to shake off the drowsiness and get his blood pumping. He sprang forward, tail wagging, and glanced around at their numbers. Seemed like the group had been thinned, um, a lot... shit.

"Alright! Keep up the pace everyone! We're almost there!" Better to dwell on the positives. "Uh, uh, uh, anyone see like, the other hoof beasts?" He questioned, with a nervous laugh. "Maybe they went toward the marsh? Well! Hey! We'll catch up with them later, let's just get to the whatever, before that thing comes back!"

fisher is staying with the group and moving across the Dunes, should he succeed

“

oh no

···

She may have had a few followers, and they did not go unnoticed. Particularly, an odd being was nearly breathing down her back- to which she turned and looked at with imploring eyes, only to turn back and continue on her way.

What was this thing used for? She didn't know a key when she saw one, but she held the inkling of its purpose in her mind. It weighed heavy in her mouth as she massaged it off of its clinging cold. Even with that gone, the taste- and the metal against her teeth- was rather poor.

Her attention was divided on the key as she made her way forward. One minute, she was prying closer and closer to the gray canine, and now she'd lagged behind, white wind whipping over her vision and showing nothing but vague impressions quickly swathed by snow.

Her eyes went wide, and she bolted forward, chasing the shadows that danced just outside of her reach.

Virgil's heart was damn close to beating out of her chest, kicking ruthlessly at her ribs as they shuddered and sent a fierce twitching across her entire flank. For a moment, the bison's icy eyes were rolling around, staring into the endless white and searching for any silhouette to follow. It was by some miracle that the blustering winds shifted then and there so she could catch the horse's whinnying "THIS WAY!"

She shrugged her shoulders once (testing the weight on them, of course) and trundled fowards, bellowing as she went and trying to sort of send a resounding ping across the snow-laden dunes. It was a signal that she was trying to find her way back, trying to follow silhouettes she couldn't see and voices she couldn't hear.

Sticking together would be best, lest that thing return.

Sticking with the group and rolling out to the Dunes!

This one, however - was hyperfixated on the silver key held by a little silver fox. He stared bug-eyed down at it, not so much as peering away when she turned to stare back at it. It could be presumed that Vinea was emulating a particular red-eyed emoji. Cyan eyes glared downwards even as the fox started to lose pace, unhelpful in any regard other than a persistent asking of "hey, I can take that off of your paws. You need me to carry that? I'm real good at carrying stuff. Lemmejusthelpyououtthere-"

His tail lashed side to side, ears swivelling and gross little alien digits flexing in preparation for some possessive thievery. Maybe he could spin it like just looking at it. After all, Vinea just wanted to hold it for at least a little while.

Vinea is sticking with the group(mainly Null? to steal that key lol) towards the Salt Marsh.

Hargrave is still Hargrave and continues to contribute nothing because she has little by way of personality traits other than currently attached to Null's hip. Perhaps this silly dog'll find some character development through failures.

She'd stopped huffing magic at her own paws and the fox for just a moment, lifting her head and squinting into the slicing blizzard - trying to make any sort of horizon out (and certainly failing.) When her head swiveled back down, Null's trail had ended conspicuously. Hargrave looked further back, at the bioluminescent figure of some creature just harassing their honorary key-holder to no end.

Purposefully lagging behind (trotting back, even) Hargrave's muzzle went up, pearly whites flashing at Vinea. The otherworldly hyena gave a sharp yelp, then a low wooop! in disappointment. He continued to basically step on either of their heels.

Sticking with Null to wherever the fuck she's going lol haha interpret that fail however you want. kill hargrave, even eheh

Whatever the hell was going on behind her, Palefur wasn't concerned. No, she only cared about sticking ahead. Surviving. Showing the others, especially the other Champions, that she wasn't useless. The sandworm (or whatever the hell it was) had obviously breached the surface, but she wasn't in any danger up here. If they decided to tangle with the thing, then they were just stupid.

She bounded forward, fur fluffed up against the cold, moving confidently, senses alert to keep herself on track. She stayed beneath Desert Rose for now - it was smart, after all, since the Champion knew what he was doing. It probably gave her the best chance.

Palefur is moving ahead towards the dunes.