Every winter, stories are passed around. In the warm havens of campfires amidst the raging snows, over spirits and warm conversation in taverns and inns, in hushed tones in back-alley streets of the slums. Some are cheerful and joyous, of holiday cheer. Some, tragedies of various degrees, from receiving the wrong gift from the Holiday Moblin, to sorrows of loss over the winter. This tale is not about those stories, though. This story is about the ones most frightful, about the creatures that go bump in the night and are told to keep people in their homes at night, to keep people from wandering too far into the night, into the den of the beast. Whether they held any falsehoods or not didn't matter, they did their job. These tales, though, these creatures, who live among us in various forms, are all certainly real. These four creatures, met by differing groups of characters, were all bound by the fear and worry they struck to denizens of the cold, explorers of the Rolling Ridge and its territories, and to any who would dare speak of them. Were realities as terrifying as the stories told, though? -- Raging flames. A body composed of embers. Scorched, melted ground wherever he stepped. A towering physique that would make the sturdiest warriors cower in fright. His presence was electrifying. The Yeti, composed of flames. That was what the stories spoke of. How could a creature live, made of flames, though? Surely it was exaggerated greatly. Her superiors thought so, at least, as they had sent Bell out to the Rolling Ridge caves alone to investigate this tale that had garnered many complaints from adventurers and merchants, too scared to traverse the ridges from its word. Bell had managed to track its carnage- or lack thereof- through singed footsteps that held lingering heat, the new layers of snowfall melting from their contact. So she tracked the footsteps through some caverns, and had arrived outward once again, to an open cave system of sorts decorated with steaming, natural hot springs. There was no way some being of fire would be spending its time at a hot springs, would it? This WAS where the footprints lead, though. . .
Having come to the startling conclusion she was needed, Eve appeared. There was an impromptu quest summons in town that day. Having been in the Rolling Ridge area for the past she-didn't-know-how-long, she had been just the one for the job. There was something so sudden and unplanned about seeing Bell that day. Had they even met? It was probably for the best Bell hadn't seen the impish, greedy girl before now. There was a breeze as a cold wind entered the area. A rare Yeti appeared, walking on his knuckles like a gorilla. He was donning an apron full of tools and had a little fez hat on his head. That must be the guy, it seemed. Eve remembered hiring a Yeti but she was not sure when he would show up. He hobbled over to the bundled-up girl and reached out his hand. "Uhhh, Tomate, call me Tom." he introduced himself. "I live near here so it was UHH, no big deal." Also Aniki was there. The teenaged Anouki was however, not invited by any of them. Although he was dressed for cold weather, the little guy wasn't even from around here. He was also without his usual Lizalfos friend whom he had left back in town. He had followed just about everyone to this location expecting something to happen. The little man had heard of a series of monsters in the area and he knew for sure he wanted to witness or take part in the impending fight. "Let's see." Eve began. "Bell is here. . . the yeti guy is here. . . Who the hell are you?!" "Aniki, leader of the Great Ice Riders! I met you during the holidays, remember?" the dandy tot elaborated. "No! What are you doing here it's dangerous?!" Eve quickly interrogated. "Yeah but-" Aniki argued. "No get out of here! I'm serious!" Eve yelled. "We're fighting some monsters right? I have my club and everything." Aniki claimed, raising his gripped bone. "BELL!" Eve shouted. She was at her wit's end.
