[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZoF2xeP.png[/img]

[h2][color=f7976a]Level 1-[/color][/h2]

[color=fff79a]|||||[/color]||||| [color=fff79a](5/10)[/color]
Word Count: [color=fff79a]1315[/color]
[color=fff79a]+3EXP[/color]
Frozen Highlands - Snowy Forest

[h3][color=39b54a]Malaise Counter: [/color][/h3] [color=39b54a]/[/color]///////// (1/10)[/center]

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[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-d5whjYwFc&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=45[/youtube][/center]

Slinking across the shadows of the snowy woods was where the Prisoner was sure he was the safest from the sights of the company of three, however, he couldn't help but have a gut wrenching feeling that they had assumed he were following them. Realistically, he was never a body of stealth, as his entire gimmick was crawling inside of headless corpses to deal with his immobility as a mass of flesh-crawling disease. Surely, he had to have stepped on a branch or two, or dashed slightly just out of the shadows, making him visible... However, none of that seemed right. One of them knows he's there, The Prisoner doesn't know how, but the small, Elven looking girl looked as if she knew about him before the other two did.

Dashing from tree to tree, The Prisoner tried to keep his wits about him regardless if his "spy mission" was foiled or not as he continued to leap to the best of his abilities through the wild brush. Hey! This was actually kinda fun! Without the constant imminent threat of forcing to revive, The Prisoner was actually able to enjoy himself as he leaped peacefully through the decaying tree of cold. Snow was... pretty nice! Watching as the snowflakes fell peacefully between the pines, The Prisoner had nearly forgotten he was following a small gang of three from their flank. As the elven lady spoke to his amidst the clearing to her companions, the Prisoner's worst fears were realized. Somehow, he knew that she knew that he was there. Was it intuition? Mostly. But her glanced behind and around her were key enough to clue in his guess.

Suddenly, to the Prisoner's luck, another unfortunate event took place. As he was getting into the mojo of swinging through and about trees and bushes, there became a very obvious lack of trees in the near future. Not noticing this, The Prisoner slipped a few steps out before quickly tucking his tail between his legs and hiding between a tree and a bush, which provided his rotting body just enough coverage to peak around and scope the new surroundings.

For one thing, the clearing had opened up much wider into an entire section for the crew to explore, snow padding across still as far as the eye can see. Picking at his pockets and dangling accessories, he pulled out his bow and kept an arrow knocked just for good measure. There were icy rivers as well, sure to turn The Prisoner into an undead popsicle if he slipped downward. He watched the waves of the hill change up and down as snow layered each and every new spectacle the Prisoner saw. He was about ready to pop from excitement purely from just the new scenery. He shook his thoughts from his empty head as he considered the next step of exploring the snowy landscape. That was until, he realized he had completely lost the crew of three from eye sight.

Now having lost his impromptu guide, he cusped his hands together, temporarily setting the bow and arrow to his side to form a pair of fake binoculars so that he could search for them. It seems in his gallivanting in the snow, he had ended up a few paces away from where they were. They had only been a decent few meters away, as the funnel that the pathway they good opened up to had diverged the tree path The Prisoner had taken. He watched as they set a sled down and began talking about the oddly shaped square snowmen who had seemed to make themselves comfortable in the area, along with many other snowy fiends, along with the larger snowman who looked crooked as all get out.

It seemed, despite his attempts at keeping a close perimeter checked, one of the smaller snowmen donning an icy crown had discovered where he had been hiding. Hearing the noise of approaching snow shuffling The Prisoner quickly grabbed the bow and arrow, quickly bringing the weapon to the middle of the small creatures eyes. Ready to release, The Prisoner kept a dead stance and "stoic" expression as it suddenly stood dead in its tracks, seemingly quaking in fear. In it's defense, the Prisoner was nearly double it's height, and also threatened it's very livelihood, so he naturally felt bad. Relaxing his aim, he took one hand off the bow and arrow to pat the creature on it's sort-of shoulder. [color=fdc68a]"Sorry little fella. Didn't mean to 'shpook' ya."[/color] He said purposefully making the spook sound silly, as if attempting to comfort the little snowman.

Letting down his guard for this seemingly innocent creature was a poor idea, because as soon as he stood to watch over the three again, the small snowman rammed right into him, definitely freezing part of his already frozen, undead leg. Feeling the pain of sudden frost-inflicted damage, and as a result, the Prisoner became upset, quickly loosing his cool. [color=fdc68a]"Oh! You slippery little..."[/color] He'd provide a swift kick directly to the main segment of the snowman, shoving him back a few feet. [color=fdc68a]"Bitch!"[/color] He growled in unison with the attack. He then quickly pulled his bow's string back, arrow in formation to pierce the poor creature directly between the eyes as he had originally intended to hit. 

Sighing in frustration, the Prisoner realized the issue with this serious of attacks. First, he had kicked the small snowman back far enough for the small group to see. Second the thud of the impact the snowman made was loud enough any skilled hunter could hear it. Third: The whistling sound of his air flying through the air is surely a familiar sound to these travelers. Surely, he had been found out now, not to mention his foul tongue which scolded the snowman was certainly in earshot.

[color=ed1c24][i]They definitely knew they were being followed.[/i][/color]

The three had found themselves in a fire-match with the snowball slinging snowmen being the primary threats. As they battled their way out of the icy threats, The Prisoner couldn't help but feel an odd sense of guilt. While they were out there dealing with monsters, he was too busy twiddling his thumbs thinking of ways to mask up the obvious sounds of a stalker. 

Then it came to him. An idea to both temporarily mask himself and provide cover fire for the crew. Taking his Balanced blade out from the sheath adorned on his back, he used it to barbarically climb up a tree without any actual tools. Masterfully balancing himself atop the cold branches, he took aim with his bow and arrows, sniping out some of he slowly encroaching enemies as both the elven lady and blonde, robed boy clearly took interest in the big bad of the area. Apparently the child had a gun as well. Hm. He didn't like that. He didn't know why, but some part of his brain told him that kids and guns do not mix well together. 

As they fired the gun, he took it upon himself to talk to them. [color=fdc68a]"Hey, uh, kid. Up here, weird guy with the misty head and rotting corpse. Yep."[/color] Said an ethereal voice shrouded by the branches of trees, still sniping enemies with his bow as he acknowledged Frisk, watching them through his peripherals.  [color=fdc68a]"Do you know how to use that thing? Cuz if not, I'd advise against it, m'kay? Thing doesn't look very lightweight."[/color] He said, masking the idea of not liking a kid with a gun. [color=fdc68a]"I mean, hey, don't let the random stranger in the tree tell you what to do, just giving you some advise."[/color] He shrugged.

He'd continue his long distance work, trying to knock out enemies one by one, hoping he could, at the very least, establish some friendly barriers between the two. It wasn't much, but hey, cover fire is cover fire.

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