The Himalayas

[Apollymi]

An icy tall mountain range which stretches from near the desert all the way across connecting India to the major landscape of Asia. It is a cold and desolate place which seems to house only the heartiest of creatures capable of withstanding the great cold here. Liquids freeze and blood chills almost instantly and the cold winds are so vast they seem to cut people right down to the bone.

[Bloodedge]

After a departure from a place known as the Sands of Time, a boat containing the demigods Athos and Deianira moved across the shifting waters of the Himalayas. Much water had been forced into this location from outside, but it moved at such velocities that there was no worry of it freezing. Soon enough, the boat reached the land of the Himalayas, and Athos hopped out. He'd been silent on this trip for a day and a half, and he remained so even now. No hesitation came between him exiting the boat, and him walking away from it and his current traveling partner.

[Apollymi]

Deianira rode along the waters happily. Though her partner for this particular adventure was quite silent for the day and half trip it'd taken to get here, which she sort of expected given he was apparently upset for reasons she couldn't begin to fathom, mostly because he wouldn't speak about them. "Ya' know, I expected the silent treatment and all, but a day and a half is a long time not to speak." she said as she walked along behind him, knowing after their boat had come to a rather abrupt stop that he was likely going to leave. She'd gotten far to used to the boy's mannerisms not to know that he'd abandon ship swiftly after they arrived. "So how about this, truce, I'll drop it... just say something~" she said before thinking about it. "Preferably not a statement about me going anywhere~" she said, the cold of this area hadn't quite hit her yet but the different in temperature as they approached had been rather obvious.

[Bloodedge]

The daughter of Dionysus continued her annoying ways of aiming to converse. Even though she offered to stop speaking on the Gorgon topic from earlier, the simple fact that she knew about it bothered Athos to no end. Either way, he hardly had the ability to not speak at this time. "There aren't any snakes here. I can't get any information about the Minotaurs," he said. With that, he continued on a forward path toward unknown locations.

[Apollymi]

Deianira called the truce and it seemed it was accepted, though only out of necessity apparently. He said that there weren't any snakes around so he couldn't get any information, the mountain range wouldn't have reptiles given the temperature, but given this she'd speak on it while searching for what she was now looking for. "Of course there aren't any snakes, high elevations and decreased temperatures aren't really good places for reptile life~" she said, knowing at least that much given her own hunting experiences. "But..." she stopped walking at the bottom of a hill and began to make a noise akin to a cat purring. Something which likely could have gone unseen began to descend one of the mountains. Large paws and steel blue eyes soon emerged from the snow. A spotted coat would leave a large cat at the young woman's side and she reached out for it immediately. Soon enough Deianira was being affectionately pawed by a snow leopard which she questioned telepathically until she found the necessary information. It was quite strange to talk to an animal in such a way, and she made sure to give it a firm pat before watching it climb up the mountain again.

"So... Ice Minotaur is apparently bad news~ It went on a rampage a couple of months back and fell into a cavern on a mountain and has been trying to bash its way out. It eats anything that falls in there, and makes a ridiculous amount of noise. According to the Snow Leopard even the big predators don't seem to want to try and kill it... so the mountain which it is in is uninhabited and with a melted ice cap. There~" she said pointing to the place where their apparent prey could be found.

[Bloodedge]

Athos' stride continued as Deianira spoke with the snow leopard. Soon, she shared the information she'd received from the creature. Looking toward the location Deianira pointed out, Athos set himself on the most direct path toward it. "I'll kill it in its cave, then." This was the only other thing the son of Poseidon had to say on the matter. After this ordeal, all he had to do was somehow obtain the blood of a god. Compared to that, and the task ahead when all was said and done, this would be a simple walk on the beach during an early summer day.

[Apollymi]

"You sure you wanna be in a confined space with a distressed, charging, man-eating bull human hybrid??" the girl asked as she easily caught up, moving so lightly and swiftly that she wasn't even leaving footprints in the snow. As she did she joined the boy along his path. She'd never seen one of these Ice Minotaurs but the idea that it was a man-eater didn't leave her to believe anything good could come of it. There was also the matter of the melted ice which wasn't explained if the creature was fully ice itself. Since creatures like Minotaurs and other beast like halflings were often human enough to use magic it could be pretty dangerous. "Also if that is your plan, you should be careful, Minotaurs are a bit higher intelligence and are usually a bit closer to human than beast aside from the rages... there's no telling what kind of skills it has~" she mentioned, not wanting to be a bad guide when handing out information. What she'd gathered from the snow leopard let her know that this wasn't as easy a task as she might have hoped.

[Bloodedge]

"I don't care what the conditions are," he replied. Even if the space he would be confined to left no room for movement between himself and the monster he was here to slay, Athos would dive in head-first to meet his goals. He also didn't care about the monster's skills and abilities; it would be felled, or he would be better off falling anyway. He was already mentally prepared to face the upcoming challenge, and by now, he had already started climbing the mountain in which it lived. The higher he went, the more he looked around for a cave the Minotaur might be found in.

[Apollymi]

A smirk came to Deianira's face as the young man spoke on his settled determination. "Alright, can't argue with you~ What with you being so set on it and all~" she said, unlike the last time Athos made his particular plans known, the young woman didn't stop following him. No she intended to be at his side the entire time, just in case. Soon enough though, the girl lost the ability to tease and carry on, mountain climbing was rather strenuous and to keep up with Athos she required a bit of concentration.

[Bloodedge]

Athos soon succumbed to tunnel vision of a metaphorical sort. He became so engrossed in the task at hand, the girl trailing behind him was erased from his mind for a while. This gave him the focus to scale the mountain and locate the hole which could only be the home of the Minotaur. Once there, he gave no second thought before dropping inside. The drop was a bit steeper than he expected, but it was no real issue for the lad. Even the darkness of this place was no problem whatsoever; the only problem was the location of the Minotaur in this hole. This issue, however, would surely resolve itself now that Athos was inside.

[Apollymi]

Athos seemed to have no trouble finding the hole which this particular beast called home. Of course, it seemed that all was quiet presently as Deianira followed his descent down this particular hole she landed lightly both feet touching the ground her knees bent her body remaining low as if she never fully intended to stand up in the first place. The darkness of this cavern was no problem for the Child of Dionysus who had all the visual prowess of a night time predator anyways. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness almost instantly and when it did she saw the glow. A faint one coming from below like a crack was in the floor. Leading forward her eyes then saw the two horns and light steam coming from the beasts nose. Her eyes widened as she realized something important both she and Athos were standing atop this beast. On a platform located on its back, a very low hiss left the girl's mouth a warning to the Gorgon boy. "We're standing on top of it," was all that was said as the girl barely moved. This was such a strange situation to be in, but at present the beast didn't stir.

[Bloodedge]

Athos' eye began to shift around the cave in search of something the size of a standard Minotaur, but he saw nothing of the sort. What he did see, though, was Deianira. The girl warned of the beast being below them instead of around, but Athos was more concerned with another matter. "What are you doing here!?" he hissed. He'd intended to use his powers as a Gorgon to deal with the Ice Minotaur, but he was no longer able to do that because of this lass being in the cave as well.

[Apollymi]

Deianira cut her eyes in the direction of the beasts head and spoke in the lowest of hisses. She'd expected many reactions but this boy's choice of thing to react to was the one which made her a bit amused. Here they were standing on top of a dangerous beast and his main concern was that the young woman was in this place with him and not that they were standing on their prey. "I've been behind you the whole time," she said as if the answer were truly that simple. "Now can we skip the you telling me to leave part because that obviously isn't anything I'm going to do, to the giant sleeping thing under our feet~" she mentioned seeming to hope this one could just be convinced to drop it. Of course, she wasn't truly afraid of this situation, and was in fact more or less amused by the entire situation her heart beating soundly beneath her skin as the thrill of this hunt consumed her. She moved forward to get a better look in the steep crack in the beasts body, it looked like it had simply cracked from the cold revealing some strange and ominous glow from within. It shuffled only slightly as it kept sleeping though it's breaths were becoming increasingly shallow, a sigh that its lack of consciousness would not remain for long.

[Bloodedge]

"This doesn't help! I can't fight around someone else!" Athos exclaimed while stepping away and looking around for some alternative. None were found. He was now officially stuck to face the Minotaur alongside a stubborn girl who refused to leave before even being told to do so, and he had no access to the powers he could have used to bring a quick end to this task. More importantly, his other powers were also not very good for using around others in such a confined space. As the Minotaur drew closer to consciousness, Athos drew further from an answer to how he could now deal with the beast. "Do you have some bright idea for dealing with this?"

[Apollymi]

"Oh, calm down..." the girl hissed. This boy's utter lack of faith in both himself and her was lightly astounding. She didn't need to look around to find an alternative she had a bit of an idea in mind. Of course, this would require the other demigod to be capable of something more if she had to do it herself. As she looked around she noted that the creature hadn't made any progress with clearing itself out of here. The mountain was still thick on all sides with no air coming in except from above. Her eyes looked down on the creature and she saw all the cracks in its person. "You got water powers too, yeah? Can you make it? Like a lot of it?" she asked not bothering to look in his direction but knowing it would likely be easiest if they took the passive route with this massive creature.

She didn't know if he'd immediately understand her plan for dealing with the creature, but even if he didn't it wouldn't make much of a difference as the stationary beast they were standing on began to move about. A growling yawn would escape it, and then it'd work its way to its feet. Once it was standing it rammed itself into a wall, then turned and walked a few feet before doing it again, leaving the two demigods to try and hold on for and keep balance to avoid falling, but something about the creatures movements were strange. It began creating ice, howling and causing frozen breath against the wall which had most recently offended it before it random its head into it again, trying to work its horns in and free itself.