[h2][center][color=Brown]Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People
[color=00aeef]Chailiss Week[/color][/color][/center][/h2]

Exploring the lands beyond the river was proving harder then anyone had expected. 

There had been some concerns before the original expeditions had gone out that groups might encounter Pretenders out in the sands, alongside any number of unknown animals and dangers that had never been encountered before. In fairness these concerns were proven to be completely valid in all regards. 

When the winds picked up, they tended to create 'waves' of dust and sand that could easily cause a band of Rattus to be split up and lost, if not outright bury them if the 'wave' was strong enough. The sands also proved home to a number of smaller creatures that, while not intimidating in their own forms, had a bite or a sting that inflicted untold pain and often death on those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it. 

An old foe revealed itself to still be lurking as well, as one of the expeditions had its look out come under attack by a creature that matched the description of a pretender... with the added description from the survivors of the encounter that the beast seemed to have a series of old burns on their body as it fled into the night.

But the true threat was the sky... and the heat that it radiated. A group of Rattus could only carry so much water and food at once... and the desert provided little of both, largely preventing foraging for food on a scale required to sustain an exploration band. The light was taxing and sapped strength, requiring the consumption of large amounts of water in order to survive. Since there was a hard limit to how much water a group could carry, that enforced a hard limit on just how far out they could go and still make it back alive. 

Some groups had bet their lives on continuing on past that point, gambling on finding a new source of water somewhere out in the sands. None who took that gamble returned, either in victory or defeat. The crypts for those brave souls had been dug out and created but... as of yet they hadn't been sealed in the hope that they might have found water and food and simply don't wish to risk their lives further on a return journey.

Raethel leaned against a wall of one of the deeper chambers of the original barrow as thought after thought ran through his head even as he lightly started to bang it against the wall. He hated this whole situation. Aethel had given them this quest to achieve and they were stumbling at the first hurdle with his people dying and he didn't see a way to change it. Sure he could change the focus to something that was hopefully less hostile, but it wasn't like he could just refuse a quest from one of their creators... and even if he could, failing to secure domination over their homeland created nightmares that haunted him as he slept for it meant his home and the home of his people not being secure and safe. 

What they were currently doing wasn't working... they needed to try something new in order to make any progress with this but nothing came to mind. He had come down here because it was nice and cool and... and... 

He paused banging his head, blinking slightly to himself as he slowly examined the idea that had sprung up in his mind from several angles [i]slowly[/i] in order to look for some flaw that might invalidate the whole thing... or at the very least justify why he hadn't thought of it early before a number of his people had gotten killed trying to explore their homeland. While some answers appeared to try and ease his mind by offering suggestions, against the positives they quickly proved to be little more then attempts to not have to deal with the guilt of the lost. 

Since the surface was clearly hostile, why not tunnel instead? Sure the process of forming the tunnels might be slower then walking along the surface, but it would be out of the glare of the sky, the various dangerous animals wouldn't be a factor and there wouldn't be able further pretender attacks since exploration would largely be happening in a secure, safe manner. Considering how much of the area away from the river was nothing but sand and heat with nothing of value, they didn't exactly need to take and hold it; All they really needed to do was locate any water sources that the desert had to offer and claim them to secure the surrounding area because water meant life. 

When Rzelios found Raethel, the former observed as the latter was banging their head against the stone wall, clearly punishing themselves as they claimed "[color=brown]You. Are. An. Idiot.[/color]" over and over again, each word being punctuated by skull hitting stone. It was only when Rzelios cleared their throat loudly enough to be heard that the banging stopped and Raethel, head resting against the wall, tiredly muttered "[color=brown]What is it?[/color]"

Rather then ask the question of Raethel was alright because it was rather clear that they weren't, Rzelios instead decided to do something productive... even if they were somewhat nervous as they started "[color=0076a3]You... never mind. There's something I need to show you. Catch this.[/color]" and waiting until Raethel had turned to look did Rzelios under arm lobbed a water skin towards them.

On instinct, Raethel's paw lashed out and catch the airborne water skin... before their eyes went wide as they suddenly dropped it, letting what should have been a container for water make a strangely solid noise as they started to rub their paw while squeaking "[color=browns]GODS THAT IS COLD![/color]" in complete shock and surprise. Having taken a moment to warm their paw back up, Raethel looked down at the water skin... then back at Rzelios before asking in a more calm voice "[color=brown]What is that? What did you do?[/color]"

Scampering forward to scoop up the fallen water skin, Rzelios looked shyly proud of themself as they explained "[color=0076a3]Y-You know how our people are struggling to explore because of the heat? Well... we thought that maybe what was needed was to develop something cold that radiated cold in order to keep people cold... or at least not at hot while they're traveling. So we started trying to channel to mana to make things cold and... well, when water gets cold it turns solid and radiates further cold! It's heavy through... to heavy for anyone to carry and after a while in the sun it starts to warm up and turns back into water anyway... so instead we decided to try grinding it down a bit so that it's still solid and cold but able to fill a water skin and...[/color] 

Opening up the water skin, Rzelios turned it upside down and started to pour out... it was hard to describe, but it looked white and powdery, but seemed to radiate an aura of coldness around it all the same. [color=0076a3]I mean... I'm not sure how long this stuff will stay solid on the surface for, but even if it only lasts for a day or so it's presence might still keep the Rattus carrying it cool in the heat... and once it's returned to water it can just be drunk as normal! W-What do you think?[/color]" He asked at last, clearly nervous as their tailed twitched behind them.

Raethel just stared at the strange 'powder' for a few moments... before he started to talk slowly "[color=brown]I... might have already come up with a solution to most of our exploration problems but... this is a wonderful idea. In fact...[/color]" Memories of fish and animals caught and killed during the night came to mind, for while the sky when it was light trended to dry things out in the harsh heat, the cool night tended to keep them fresh "[color=brown]I think your idea might be greater then you realize. We need... we need to test something out. We need to get some water down here... as well as some meat.[/color]"

[hr]

The test itself was fairly simple, through it would take a bit of time to run its course. Raethel arranged for several buckets worth of water to be brought down into one of the rooms of the barrow to have Rzelios cool it into a solid form, resulting in several of the cold blocks making the room colder. Three fish were quickly caught within minutes of each other, one placed in the cold room, another in a different barrow room and the last one kept on the surface. 

The surface fish started to smell awful within the light in the sky moving very little. The one kept in the normal barrow fared better, lasting until the sky had gone dark and lit up again before it started to smell stronger then normal. The fish in the cold room through lasted a full three changes of the sky before anyone noticed even the slightest hint of a change in scent... and even then it was felt that it would still be alright to cook and eat. 

With the experiment deemed a success, Raethel quickly sent messengers to spend the news, as well as sent Rzelios to teach other Rattus how to turn water into a cold solid and thus allow the creation of other cold rooms in different barrows.
  

[hider=Summary]
The Rattus are having some trouble exploring beyond their river and into the Land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers properly, with a number dying for various reasons. Thinking about how to solve this, Raethel comes up with a possible solution... and considers himself a complete idiot for not thinking of it sooner before Rattus started to die. 

During the guilt filled flagellation, Rzelios arrives with their own solution to help with the exploration problem. While Raethel's solution largely makes Rzelios' pointless for the intent of exploration, he can still see the value in it... and quickly arranges a test to see how much this 'cold water' can affect food storage. The results speak for themselves, and Raethel quickly arranges for Rzelios to teach others how to make 'cold water' so that cold rooms can be developed across all Rattus settlements and outposts.   
[/hider]


[hider=Spirit]

Start: 7

+1 for being apart of a post for longer then a line.
+1 for main character
+1 for Medium 

Divine Quest: Claim the Land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers for the Rattus (In progress)
Divine Quest: Discover a new land across the sea (Plus discover the ability to sail on the ocean)
Divine Quest: Create safe passage through the Great Dragon Range so Rattus can explore the other side.
 
-8 for new technology (Refrigeration) 

End: 2  
[/hider]