[treasure] Frozen Treasure

Bookmark shivered as another cold breeze blew past.

Lilac was a hardy Alligawper, so she was able to brave colder environments like this, but Bookmark would always get chilly. It didn't make much sense - she was the one who had fur, while Lilac had none. Maybe it was something about how Lilac had far more fat stores than Bookmark had.

Traversing through colder environments was difficult, but it was also rewarding - there weren't as many customers seeking the magical artifacts that Bookmark sold, but there typically were more things that other travelers had left behind. Bookmark had found many a strange item half encased in the snow before, so she didn't think that it would be too hard to find more again.

"Ugh... it's too c- too cold- ahtchew!"

Bookmark bristled as she sneezed. Lilac jumped slightly at the sudden sound, but calmed down shortly after. Bookmark shook her head slightly, and felt... warmer?

Oh. She had accidentally shifted into her brute form. That wasn't the most convenient. She may be warmer like this, but claws weren't the easiest to use when picking up fragile treasures that were left behind by other people. Her larger form also put a little more strain on Lilac - the poor gal.

"Hokay... alright. Where would I drop off some treasure that's weighing me down if I was an adventurer..."

Bookmark slowly got down from her seat on the traveling bookshop, feeling the snow crunch under her hooves as she did so. She'd have to get a good idea of her surroundings first, but there wasn't much to see - every which way, it was just snow as far as the eye could see. Except...

Oh! There was a cave in the distance! If she was an adventurer, she would take a short rest there, and then potentially forget something when packing up to continue forward the next day!

"Fantastic," she hummed, continuing to awkwardly trudge through the snow. Lilac followed promptly, the wheels on the bookshop creaking as they struggled to turn through the snow. Bookmark could have sat back up on the seat, but she wanted to give Lilac a break, particularly because of the rougher terrain, and the fact she was still in her brute form.

The cave actually felt a little warmer, she realized, as they grew closer to it. This was truly the perfect place for someone to leave something behind. Now she just had to find something.

As she entered the cave, she undid Lilac's harness gently, allowing the Alligawper to prance out into the cave - Lilac promptly spun around in a small circle, laying down to take a quick nap. She didn't blame the beast - the cold weather made her feel sleepy, too.

"Rest up, gal. I'll wake you up when we're back on our way," she hummed, patting Lilac on the head. The Alligawper was already snoring softly through her nostrils.

In the meantime, it was time for Bookmark to get looking for treasure. She quickly surveyed the snowy ground of the cave to look for oddly shaped lumps - places where something could be buried. The one upside to being in her brute form meant that she'd be able to easily dig up anything that was buried - at least there was that.

"A-hah!"

She found an oddly shaped place! It looked like someone had purposefully left something here... she began to dig furiously, trying to find whatever it was that was hidden.

Huh. She was digging a lot further than she thought she would. Maybe she should try somewhere else, she thought, but right as she was about to give up, she had found something.

It was... an amulet?

She held it up to get a better look at it. Weird... it didn't have any particular symbols on it. It looked like a flat coin affixed to a necklace. Strange.

She'd take a look at it and see if there were any curses or blessings cast on it later, she thought, walking back to the parked bookstore cart so that she could store it for safekeeping. For now, she felt like Lilac had the right idea... it was time to take a nap.

Hopefully she wouldn't lose anything of her own when she left, she thought, laying down next to Lilac as she closed her eyes.