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theshatteredrose · 5 years ago

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Turquoise Lotus Father (Treasure Seekers Saga 2) - Chapter 8 - Etrian Odyssey 5 Fanfiction

AN: Another chapter done, in spite of my headaches and sinus infection :’D Anyway, hope you enjoy reading and let me know what you think~!

Ao3 | Wattpad | FFNet

Chapter 8:

The delicious smell of breakfast greeted Drayce as he walked down the stairs. And as he stepped into the dining room, he received another greeting from none other than Tokala. The therian looked as cheerful and energetic as before. Perhaps even more so.

And, would you look at that, he wasn’t hiding his tail!

The same brown colour as his hair, his tail was long and fluffy (and curled into a circle at the tip), and wagged happily as he greeted everyone.

“Hey, good morning! I helped make breakfast for everyone, so eat up!”

“Tokala is quite talented in the kitchen,” Ashton stated as he placed a few plates of that delicious smelling food onto the table. “It was nice to have an extra set of hands, especially when it comes to feeding you lot.”

Drayce could honestly feel his mouth water. His stomach didn’t growl, thankfully. That would be embarrassing. “Looks delicious. Can’t wait to dig in.”

As Drayce sat down at the so-called head of the table, and his guildmates occupied the other seats, Caelem sat on the chair closest to him and tapped his arm to gain his attention.

“Is it ok if I help out in the library today?” he asked.

Drayce didn’t have a problem with that. “Sure, that’s fine.”

“We can swap places,” Kamali suggested. “I’d like to venture into the labyrinth today.”

“Ah, that’s good.” Caelem was rather relieved by that. He no doubt held the notion in his head that he was somehow letting down the guild by choosing to follow his interests rather than join his guildmates in the labyrinth.

Drayce leaned his elbow onto the table and rested his chin in the palm of his hand as he regarded Caelem. “You’re really into this research stuff, huh?”

Caelem instantly flushed a light pink. “Ah, w-well, I just want to learn as much as I can about my village’s founding father.”

Drayce laughed to show that he wasn’t judging him. It would be highly hypocritical of him to do so. “Haha, no no, it’s fine.” He then turned his attention toward their two new guests that sat on the other end of the table together. “What about you, Tokala, Salim?”

“Eh?” Salim appeared momentarily caught off guard by the question. “Er, dunno.”

“I left the necklace with Shashi,” Tokala began to prattle openly. “He promised to take care of it for me. Maybe Salim and I can explore around town? We haven’t really had the chance to.”

That sounded reasonable. They weren’t members of his guild, so it wasn’t like he could ask them to do something. Even if they were members, if they had other plans, they were welcomed to do whatever they want.

“That’s fine,” Drayce said absentmindedly. “Leave the investigation to us for the day then. Go out and have fun. Just be sure to be home before dark.”

“Home…” Tokala repeated slowly, his expression unreadable. A wide smile soon reappeared on his lips and he looked genuinely happy. “Ah, sure!”

Drayce simply sent Tokala a small smile before everyone fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed their breakfast. The food was quite delicious today. Ashton had always been a brilliant cook, but it seemed that Tokala was quite talented, too.

Ashton was a hard worker. He wondered if Tokala and Salim were willing to join his guild?

Never mind that for now. He had better get some food into him and get ready for a trek into the labyrinth.

Breakfast was quickly finished and those who were to enter the labyrinth today set off to gather their belongs and essentials. Drayce trekked back to his room to get himself dressed in his armour and adventuring clothes, as it were. His shield rested down stairs, along with his cannon. He kept them down there in case he needed to dash out into the labyrinth at a moment’s notice.

Before he left his room, he checked his pocket for an Ariadne Thread and tied it to his wrist in order to be in constant contact with it. The last thing he wanted was struggling to grab a hold of the thread to activate it while fending off a monster attack with his other hand. He certainly didn’t want to endure such a scenario against those Toxipedes.

“Ok, everyone ready to go?” Drayce asked as he stepped into the seating room.

Blayke, Kamali, Faelen, Nashoba, and Zohar were already there. And they appeared more than ready to go.

“Our goal for the day is to simply gather materials,” Drayce stated as he grabbed his cannon and shield, slipping the leather straps over his head and upon his shoulders within reaching range. “But if you guys hear or sense anything, do let me know immediately. We’ve been lucky so far with this project. We can only hope that our luck holds out just a little bit longer.”

“You got it,” Blayke returned, speaking for everyone.

With Drayce now ready to go as well, he turned to Ashton, the ever-dedicated caretaker who wanted to see them off. “We’ll be back sometime after lunch, most likely. But definitely before dark.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Ashton said with a small smile.

With that done, they six of them headed out.

Using that neat little trick to skip straight to the second floor, the six of them soon found themselves in the opulent walls of Yggdrasil. It always surprised him how crisp and fresh the air was within the labyrinth. The scents and smells were invigorating. Not to mention the sights of the beautiful flowers and lush green foliage.

They soon found in their usual formation. Drayce took the lead with Blayke a mere step or so behind him. Faelen with his faithful wolf by his side took the middle. While Kamali came next, and at the back came Zohar.

Drayce soon got used to hearing the footfalls of his companions. Blayke’s stern marching. Faelen’s quick footsteps in time with his beloved wolf. Kamali’s calm wandering. And Zohar’s steady pace. It was relaxing, in a way. A steady rhythm.

And yet he was certain that he was hearing another. One attempting to match his own. And when Drayce purposely missed one of his steps, he heard a much softer one fall in his place. A soft growl from Nashoba and a light tug on Drayce’s arm from Blayke told him that he wasn’t the only one who noticed.

They were being followed.

“Drayce,” he said quietly but sternly.

Drayce nodded his head. “Yeah. Go for it.”

At soon as those words left his lips, Blayke darted off to the left, toward the sound of the mysterious footfalls. With his rapier at the ready in a purely offensive stance, he lunged toward the foliage. As he stabbed into the undergrowth, there was an immediate response. A response in the sound of a high-pitched yelp in surprise and in a flurry of leaves, someone appeared.

A young man by appearance. Blue hair, green eyes, and clothing that were a little…unusual. Dark blue pants and blazer with a white button-up shirt.

“Wha-?” the guy spluttered as he held up a blade that was similar to the one that Caelem wielded defensively. “H-hey, put that sword away! I’m completely innocent here!”

“Why should I?” Blayke spat as he kept his rapier toward the kid, even as another silently revealed themselves from the foliage. “You’ve been following us.”

The other man, a harbinger by appearance if the dark purple leather and large scythe he carried easily over his shoulder was any indication. He had long purple hair with a peculiar blue streak that framed the left side of his face. He also had quite piercing dark pink eyes. Though, he kept his eyes downward toward the ground, even as he moved to stand next to the blue haired guy.

The guy with blue hair unexpectedly lowered his weapon and rubbed the back of his neck in a totally unguarded way. “Ah, well, it’s because…” he started before a broad smile slipped across his lips. “Heh, we’re lost as shit.”

Huh, Drayce wasn’t expecting that, honestly. Blayke didn’t seem to believe him, though.

“Shh…” Faelen whispered softly to Nashoba. The white wolf had his heckles raised and his head low to the ground. He was growling softly as he stared at the two strangers before.

“Something wrong, Fae?” Drayce asked as he checked in on the young rover.

“Nashoba isn’t fond of them,” Faelen replied simply as he crouched down next to the wolf, keeping his hand on his companion’s back in an attempt to settle and calm him.

“Oh, come on!” the guy with the blue haired whined childishly. “Really, I’m totally innocent. And lost.” He turned to the man next to him and his tone took on a…well, cooing tone. “Aren’t we, Runi~?”

The other, ah Runi (that may just be a nickname, though), didn’t immediately respond. He barely even lifted his head. “…Yes,” he finally uttered in a rather sullen voice.

Drayce took a moment to study the two. He couldn’t really see or even sense anything untoward about them. They appeared like a pair of down on your luck explorers that were just starting out, lured in by the stories of wealth and privilege of Yggdrasil.

“I see,” Drayce said as he approached the two. “Are you part of a guild?”

“Yup,” the more chatty of the two cheerfully replied. “There’s two of us at the moment, but we’re totally a guild.”

While Drayce didn’t see much of a threat from the two, Blyake was still very suspicious. “I don’t believe that.”

That received a childish pout from the blue-haired guy. “Dude, why so suspicious?”

“For many, many reasons, I assure you,” Blayke returned swiftly as he kept his rapier toward him. “And I’m not afraid to get violent if I have to.”

“Wow, ok, cool.” That was rather sarcastic. He wasn’t all that afraid.

“Blayke, easy,” Drayce said as he placed a hand on Blayke’s back, prompting him to lower his blade. He stayed suspicious, though, and continued to glare at the two. Especially when Drayce took to the front to regard the two. “So, you two are lost, are you?”

“Heard that you can get some rare materials on this floor that get you some good money. We’re just starting out with this explorer business, you know? Not as easy as they say…” he paused for a moment as he glanced down at the ground to the side. He soon painted a broad smile on his lips once again. “Anyway, the name’s Keita, but you can call me Kei. And this is Runihura, but you can call him Runi~”

Runihura didn’t make an attempt to response. And he still wouldn’t lift his head to look at anyone.

That was rather curious.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, fellow explorers. My name is Drayce, this is Blayke, Faelen, Zohar, and Kamali.”

“Nice to meet ya,” Keita chimed happily as he took a moment to cast a gaze over everyone. He soon narrowed in on Faelen. “Especially you, Faelen~ Your hair really is quite stunning. It looks like fairy floss. I could just eat you all up.”

Faelen flushed lightly and subconsciously hid behind Drayce. Drayce, himself, felt his protective heckles raised and Nashoba uttered a low, threatening growl.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Drayce found himself stated in a stern manner.

Keita snorted, not remotely intimidated. “Protective, much?”

“Extremely,” Drayce replied quickly. “But especially of my little brother. He’s fifteen, just so you know.”

“Ok, cool,” Keita responded dismissively before he rested his weapon upon his shoulder and shoved his free hand into the pocket of his trousers. “Anyway, you guys look like you know where you’re going so that’s why we’ve been following you. Really. Ain’t that right, Runi?”

Runihura still made no attempt to respond. Or even react to them at all.

Keita sighed deeply and loudly. “Man, you’re just a bubbly conversationalist, aren’t you?”

Drayce shook his head in mild amusement while Faelen uttered a small giggle.

Keita immediately turned his head in Faelen’s direction and smiled widely. “Oh hey, I got a giggle. Sweet.”

Faelen flushed again and ducked further behind Drayce. He did lean around him ever so slightly so he could peer at the strange youth.

Drayce didn’t get a bad vibe from the two. They were a little odd, but who wasn’t, right? If what they said was true, they were new to the gig of exploration and where currently lost. Being lost in the labyrinth was dangerous. He couldn’t turn his back on a pair of explorers.

“Alright, you two can tag along,” Drayce said. “But don’t do anything reckless, ok?”

“Alright, cool!” Keita grinned again. “We’ll be good.”

Well, they would have to wait to see.

They fell into a semi-awkward silence as Drayce reinstated their journey. He took his place at the lead as the others trailed together behind him. Blayke stayed closer to Faelen, though, as did Nashoba. Neither of the very protective two liked Keita’s interest and proximity to the sweet rover.

Drayce, himself, kept a closer eye on Faelen. But that was just the leader in him. He was protective of everyone. Especially in regards to someone he didn’t know all that well, yet.

“Hey, you have something in your hair,” Keita suddenly announced.

Drayce looked over his shoulder just in time to watch as Keita pulled a green leaf from Faelen’s hair, causing the rover to look rather uncomfortable. “Ah…?”

Blayke immediately slapped Keita’s hand away. “Brat, weren’t you told to keep those god damn hands to yourself?”

“Come on, I’m not doing anything,” Keita immediately protested. “Besides his hair looks like cotton candy~”

Faelen tilted his head to the side. “What’s cotton candy?”

Keita released an overly dramatic gasp and looked absolutely scandalised. “You’ve never had cotton candy?! That’s an outrage!”

Blayke bristled wildly. “God damn it, brat, shut up!”

“Boo, stop being such a stick in the mud!”

“If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll be burying you up to your neck in mud!”

The kid was loud and carefree, it seemed. He definitely rubbed Blayke the wrong way!

Yet, there was…something not quite authentic about the Keita. Runihura was rather suspicious himself. He wouldn’t look at anyone. He would just look down at the ground in front of him, refusing to make eye-contact.

Maybe he was just a bit awkward. Not everyone was made for prolonged social interaction.

Drayce shook his head to clear it. It was best for him to concentrate on trekking through the labyrinth for the time being. He needed to keep an eye out for any gathering points. From what Zohar told him, they were looking for something that was far different than the mining spots that were located on the first floor.

Blayke and Keita continued to bicker as they travelled through the halls.

As they entered into an open area, Drayce’s gaze was drawn to the darken corner. There were more flowers located in that area. Flowers and plants that he hadn’t seen previously. He was able to lead the group over in order to give a closer inspection, but a hand touching his arm pulled him to a stop.

“Drayce?”

Upon hearing Kamali’s voice, Drayce immediately turned his attention to him. “Hm?”

Kamali leaned forward and cupped his hand around his mouth. So Drayce leaned forward with his head to the side to allow the warlock to talk into his ear. “I sense mana nearby. It’s faint, but it’s near that grove over there, I believe.”

He had indicated to the flowery corner that had gained Drayce’s attention.

“Ok,” Drayce said in response. “You do the searching then, ok?”

Kamali leaned back and gave him a small smile. “Of course.”

The others of the party seemed to be distracted by Keita’s antics with Blayke, so Drayce just silently led everyone to the possible gathering point. Kamali dutifully stepped forward and crouched down to inspect the ground and vegetation. And Drayce took on a protective stance to ensure that a monster wouldn’t attempt to ambush them.

After a few seconds, Kamali unexpectedly uttered a soft noise of surprise. Drayce immediately turned to look at him and found the warlock already up on his face. He held something tightly in his enclosed hands.

Before Drayce could ask if he found something interesting, Kamali huddled close to him and unfurled his hands to reveal a small silver token. In the shape of a coin. But it wasn’t the fact that it was silver, nor in the shape of a coin that immediately caught his attention. Within the very centre of the coin was an engraving. Of a lotus.

“This is…?”

“It’s a token of some kind.” Kamali kept his voice low so not to arouse suspicion. “And the pattern is similar to that of the one of the music box.”

“Is this what we need to activate the map?” Drayce asked quickly.

Kamali gave a small smile. “Possibly.”

What a find!

They were suddenly interrupted by none other than Keita who physically pushed his way between the two of them. “What you guys whispering about? Find something rare?” his gaze soon fell onto the silver token in Kamali’s hands. The kid moved faster than Kamali could react. “Wow, that IS a rare one. Can I have it?”

Blayke grabbed Keita by the shoulder and roughly pulled him back. “Are you serious? We found it,” he snapped.

“You won’t give it to me?” Keita pouted. A grin suddenly slipped across his lips and he took a step back.

And before anyone could react, he grabbed his blade in both hands, one grasping the handle, the other the sheath. He then lifted the blade up and pulled the blade halfway out of the sheath. He slipped around behind Faelen, dropped the blade over his head, and directed the sharpen edge toward Faelen’s throat.

“What about now?” Keita smirked.

Drayce felt his heart leap into his throat. “What? Fae!”

“D-Drayce…” Faelen stuttered.

Keita shifted to pull Faelen closer toward him, ensuring that he was a shield between them. Runihura ducked behind Keita, but did little else.

Drayce instinctively reached for his weapon, while Blayke did the same. Kamali clutched the silver token tightly in one hand while the other reached out to snare Nashoba’s collar, keeping the wolf from lunging.

“W-why?” Faelen murmured, his voice soft and shaky. And seemingly on the verge of tearing up.

“Hey, any excuse to get closer to you, right?” Keita returned with a sickly flirtatious smile. He even went as far as to nuzzle his cheek against the top of Faelen’s head. “Your hair really is as soft as it looks.”

Upon hearing Faelen whimper, Drayce found himself levelling his gun directly at Keita. Aiming for right between the eyes.

“Ok, you’ve got two seconds to release him before I put a bullet in your neck,” Drayce hissed. He was inwardly surprised by the anger in his voice, yet not so much. That kid tricked him and was using Faelen as a hostage. He had every right to be angry.

“How violent,” Keita cooed mockingly as he brought his blade a few millimetres closer to Faelen’s neck. “Just hand over the token and we’ll leave.”

He couldn’t trust his word, but he was in no state to negotiate either.

“Fine.”

Keita appeared honestly surprised for a short second. “That was quick.” He soon shrugged before he made a motion with his head. “Runi.”

Drayce wasn’t going to risk Kamali being pulled into a hostage situation, too. So he took the token from him and held it out in an outstretched hand himself. Runihura silently stepped out from behind Keita and hurried over toward Drayce. Oddly enough, the harbinger still wouldn’t lift his gaze toward him. Even as he snatched the token from his hand and darted back quickly.

“The real thing?” Keita asked as he kept Faelen in front of him.

“Yes,” Runihura answered simply.

“Good,” Keita muttered before he smiled broadly and insincerely. “See, no harm done. We’ll catch you guys later. And thanks for finding the token for us!”

Keita thankfully dropped his arms from around Faelen and leapt back. Faelen stumbled forward slightly and clutched at his throat. Drayce dropped his hold on his cannon, instead reaching out to take Faelen into his protective arms. He held him close to his chest as Blayke and Zohar stepped forward. Nashoba also leapt forward, ready to tear a hole or two in Keita.

But the brat managed to stay out of range. And infuriatingly, he continued to smile.

“Later, precious!” he cooed, likely directed toward Faelen, before he disappeared into the foliage of the labyrinth. Runihura close behind him.

With the others of their party making a semi-circle around them, Drayce took a step back and crouched down in front of Faelen. He kept one of his on his shoulders as he carefully inspected him for any injuries with the other. He immediately searched his throat first.

“Are you all right? Let me look at you. Did he hurt you? Where did he touch you?”

Thankfully, there didn’t appeared to be any injuries. Nothing to his throat. No blood. No cuts.

“I’m…fine,” Faelen replied shakily.

A strong prang of guilt struck Drayce right in the chest. “Fae…I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault!” Faelen immediately insisted. “You couldn’t have known!”

There was some logic to that, but Drayce’s guilt and concern overrode all of that. He was, however, thankful that the young rover hadn’t been physically harmed. So grateful in fact that he pulled Faelen into a tight hug, which was immediately returned.

Nashoba snuggled up to Faelen, nudging his hand with his nose as Kamali rubbed a comforting hand up and down his back. Drayce felt a light tingling sensation race up his spine. And as he lifted his gaze, he immediately realised that Zohar had summoned Theodore. Likely as a precautionary measure.

The likelihood of those two returning was slim. But better safe than sorry.

Blayke uttered a frustrated sight. “I might be making a wild assumption here, but those two are probably bandits.”

Drayce pulled away from his hug with Faelen, but kept him close to his side. “Yeah.”

“They knew of that token. Before we did,” Zohar murmured as he and a surprisingly serious Theodore kept a narrow and suspicious gaze at their surroundings. “Perhaps there are others?”

That was a strong possibility.

“Yeah,” Drayce sighed as he scooped up his cannon and holstered it to his side. “I think we know who’s been tailing us this whole time.”

Blayke kicked at the ground, utterly frustrated. “Tch. I knew it wouldn’t be long before those bandits got involved.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We’re going to have to tell Ramus about this.”

Drayce couldn’t prevent himself from wincing. “You’re right.” He sighed aloud as he idly ran his fingers through Faelen’s hair. “Let’s…head home for now. Those tokens need to be researched, as well.”

And more importantly, he wanted to get Faelen and his guildmates somewhere safe. He didn’t care what those bandits did to him, but they weren’t allowed to lay a finger on any of his guildmates!

#Etrian Odyssey #etrian odyssey 5 #turquoise lotus father #the treasure seeker #fanfiction #Angelward Guild

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thelastchair · 6 years ago

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Alps 2019

(Written by Arthur Scopic - March 29, 2019)

Landing Zurich **** On landing at Amsterdams Schipol, I knew something wasn't right, not just the usual transatlantic blear, but odd chills and fever. Texting my pal Subtle Plague, I warned him that I may have a cold or flu and may be infectious. He dismissed any concerns, citing their own little germ trawler as being of greater potential for flus or colds and nobly insisted we meet.

So, after nearly missing the connection to ZRH due to customs clogging at Schipol, I boarded the flight to Zurich, dozed some more in that jetlag timewarp and embarked on the train for Konstanz from ZRH.

Konstanz, Subtle Plague **** Subtle Plague met me at the train station and ferried me to his house to meet his family and set me up for a nap before we headed out to the Gotthard zones. I considered just taking a hotel and convalescing but hope sprang eternal in my skiersoul, so next morning we headed out on the Swiss highways to the Gotthard tunnel and Airolo.

Konstanz

It was over twenty years ago that I landed in Geneva and contracted a cold and rather than taking it easy, jumped into skiing around La Grave, Serre Chevalier, Puy St. Vincent and the Milky Way. But by the 6th day or so, while skiing at Val Thorens, I knew something was seriously wrong. I shortly spiraled into fill blown pneumonia, eventually requiring IV antibiotics on returning to the US.

Airolo ****

So this time, I was going to be smarter and on arriving at Airolo, despite the pow and sunshine, I deferred on the skiing and snoozed in Subtle Plagues RV. I took solace in the fact that one of the more widely read ski weather forecasters had explicitly directed his followers to Airolo, resulting in crowding and pow frenzy that chewed up the snow at what is normally a low key area. Such is the internet.

At days end, we drove up a nearby valley and camped out for what ended up being one of the most fevered nights I'd ever had. My throat burned on every swallow and my head throbbed with a thundersome sinus headache resulting in little sleep. So once again, skiing that day was not for me. Subtle Plague was a prince about it all, understanding and left me to me convalescing.

Konstanz Again ****

At days end after Subtle and buddies had enjoyed a powdery tour, we rolled back to Konstanz in the RV. Konstanz is a beautiful town, with it's older buildings and neighborhoods having escaped some of the ravages of WWII by virtue of being on the Swiss border and thereby not targetted by bombing raids. I knew that Subtle and family had a busy Monday morning ahead of them so after sleeping Saturday night and being feasted and feted by their hospitality, I trundeled off in a train headed to St. Anton Sunday afternoon.

St. Anton, Haus Elisabeth, Arlberg Guides, Verwall, Hinterrendl **** I had initially planned to roll out East to the Gasteinertal and ski that zone, but the flu caused to me to reevaluate that plan. I wrote the wonderful folks at Hotel Echo Bad Gastein and cancelled my room there and dredged around for another option in St. Anton when I found Das-Elisabeth which fit my requirements of being reasonably close to the train station. So I booked a room there. It proved to be an excellent choice with a superb breakfast and quiet spot to finish this flu. I again chose not to ski the first day, but with a suggestion from the host, Berthe, found a doctor to check me out and write a script for the antibiotics I knew I'd need after this flu. I walked around the village in a howler snowstorm, got a good sleep and readied myself for the first turns of the trip.

St. Anton is HUGE and I not knowing it at all, I opted to try to find some guided options. The best deal I found was with the Arlberg-Guides who offered a guided group option for 97Euros. This turned out not only a great option, but fortuitous as well by virtue of meeting Sebastyn.

The lift system is staggering with a base terminal at the Galzigbahn looking like a spaceship.

The day broke blue and crowds were massive with enormous lines at the Galzigbahn. Our guide circumnavigated that queue, opting for the Gampenbahn chair for a checkout run before taking us down into Schongraben for some quality pow.

Next up, we rode up into the Galzig zone, hoping to get up into the Schindlerspitz. But due to avalanche levels being up to 4, both the Schindlergrabahn and the Valuga were closed. On traversing out towards the Arlberg Pass, we could see a gargantuan liftline at the Arlenmaderbahn, so we took a high traverse to access the Albonabahn II.

View from Albonabahn II

After a few laps down that we skied the North face down into Stuben and used the old Albonabahn chair to get back to the Albonabahn II and started down into a beautiful valley ending the day in Verwall with beer and local game charcuterie. ****************************************************************************************************

I found a sign for a museum that turned out to be a beautiful old chalet that was a combination ski museum and restaurant, so I went in for a light dinner.

Karl Schranz's Kneissl White Stars

Next day, another storm had moved in, so I elected to repeat with Arlberg Guides and again skied with Sebastyn, a sharp wit and keen skier who had grown up skiing in the Arlberg. We had a different guide who, after a warm up on the Gampenbahn, took us over to the North facing Rendelbahn zone. After riding several lifts we dropped over into Hinterrendl, a spectacular bowl of excellent powder with views obscured by storm.

Old door in St. Anton

The day after, it was still storming but I wanted to have a little more free reign, so I elected to skip the Arlberg Guides. I had also moved hotels to the Hotel Kirchplatz which was a bit East of the town center and closer to the Nassereinbahn where I started the day. Lo and behold, there was Sebastyn who kindly offered to ski with me that day. After a couple of runs, we hooked up with his friend Victoria and spent a few laps skiing the powder in what I'll call the Galzig Gullies near the Osthangbahn chair. It was light, thigh deep snow in among the trees with decent visibility. After a bit, Vicki suggested that we meet up with her boyfriend Yannick who was to get off guide duty at noon, so we skied back down to the Nasserein base. Yannick got off and suggested another lap down the powder in Schongraben. While chatted on the lifts as we sampled snow over in the Galzig zone, we found that Victoria's mom is Berthe who manages Haus Elisabeth. The Freakwhency strikes again! We ended the day with beer and wienerschitzer at the Krazy Kangaroo around 3:00. A big thanks to Seb, Vicki and Yannick!

View from Hotel Kirchplatz

Old St. Anton chalet

The next day, Friday, was my last day in the Arlberg and it was forecast to dump with rising freezing levels. Sebastyn had to head back to school, so I decided just to roll solo around the Galzig Gullies and whatever else was visible. This proved to be not much. The day started with spooky snow fractures in the trees around the gullies, but failed to actually slide on the ski cuts I put in. So I raged solo mad laps mostly on the Galzigbahn until about 1:00 when it started to rain at the bottom. By 2:00 I was soaked, so I headed back to the Hotel Kirchplatz to wash and dry stuff. It's a great hotel with a sauna, wellness spa and free washer and dryer which I sorely needed. By 3:30 I was at the bahnhof and by 4:00, rolling to Klosters.

I can see why the Arlberg is so popular: it's massive and gets a lot of snow. At the same time, it's crowded and lots of the businesses in town are jaded by tourists. I was extremely lucky to hook up with Sebastyn, Victoria and Yannick who were incredibly warm and abundant and convinced me that my aversion to St. Anton as an instance of a megaresort, was ill founded. I'll be back. ****************************************************************************************************

Klosters, Hotel Wynegg, bw_wp_hedonism, Gargellan, St. Antonien **** After a 3.5 hour jaunt on Austrian and Swiss trains, I stepped onto the platform in Klosters Platz, right next to the soaring Gotschnabahn tram. I had been in touch with bw_wp_hedonism who had generously offered to meet up. I had also dug around for a reasonably priced room, a somewhat rare beast in Klosters and had stumbled across Wynegg, a recently revamped old hotel which was establishing itself as a haute gourmando locus. So I booked a room there, a 10 minute walk from the bahnhof. bw_wp_hedonism pinged me via whatsapp and turned up in the hotel bar. We made plans for the next day to poke around Parsenn, one of 5 enormous lift systems in the Davos/Klosters complex.

I was a little late and with blue sky and fresh pow, the lines at the Gotschnabahn were significant. bw_wp_hedonism had waited and we ran into his buddy Tom and were off. We raged all over the Parsenn, up to the summit via the Furka lifts and then the Gipfelbahn where we found sweet deep untracked snow on a variety of North facing exposures.

View from Schiferbahn gondola

The area is laced with dozens of groomers that keep lots of tourists busy and provided access to an innumerable wad of excellent off piste options. After a couple of laps on the Schiferbahn in excellent pow, we met with a bunch of bw_wp_hedonism at the midmountain near the base of the Furka lift for lunch. After a lengthy lunch we made a few more sidecountry laps by taking bootpacks and traverses off the Totalp zone, eventually making apres ski at Berghaus Schifer.

View from midmountain Parsenn, untapped offpiste above

I rolled back to the Wynegg for a shower and nap before taking a table in the restaurant at 8:30.

The food was superb, starting with an excellent salad, I ordered a soup that was celestial: a foamed saffron broth and perfectly poached prawns. The wine list was fantastic with a crisp chardonnay and an excellent local, rich pinot noir by the glass. I finished with the specialty pizokel noodle and lamb in a deliciously deft creamed curry sauce. I zonked out by 22:00.

bw_wp_hedonism had referred to doing a tour I had eyeballed for years, one that went over a little pass above the Madrisa area over into the Voralberg and the Gargellen ski area, then back over to Switzerland and the tiny medieval town of St. Antonien.

**************************************************************************************************** On waking, we texted back and forth making plans to meet at the top of the Madrisabahn and head out. And so we did. It was amazing with an easy, gently ascending skin S/SE from the top of the Schaffugli lift to the Schlappiner Joch and the border with Austria.

Looking south from Madrisa

On the skintrack to Schlappiner Joch. Schlappiner where?

At Schlappiner Joch

The ski down from there was on beautiful sparsely tracked North facing steep slopes with a long and easy run out down to Gargellen where we had to stop in at the base of the gondola to get single ride passes back up to the top of the Kristelbahn and a slightly more significant climb up to the Sankt Antonier Joch.

From there. it was a West/Northwest facing series of virgin pow lines draining down into a creek gully which fed us out onto a road requiring the canonical walk in ski boots down into the atmospheric town of St. Antonien clustered around a spike steepled church dated 1492. There we enjoyed beer and charcuterie until the bus came and we wound around curves connecting ancient villages down to the train station at Kublis.

St. Antonien

At the Kublis bahnhof, I thanked bw_wp_hedonism and pal Tom for their gracious abundance, I had had an amazing time around Davos, again, more data that eroded my reluctance to ski at the more reknown areas.

I rallied back to Klosters and the Hotel Wynegg, extending my sincere thanks to Cedric and all the folks who run an incredibly warm and tasteful hotel to which I hope to return. Grabbing my clothes and gear, I hopped the train for Rueras, Switzerland to meet up with the motley band of maggots at MtLodge

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Rueras, MtLodge **** The train actually ended in Disentis with the last leg of the trip to Rueras in the trusty Swiss postbus which kindly dropped me at the very door to the hotel. There I met the owner, Michele, an effusive and warm persona who set me up with a sweet room and delicious food and drink. He had also queued up a number of routes and tours that I had ogled for years. But first, sleep. It was dumping.

Morning brought delicious coffee and the classic Euro breakfast spread while making plans with all the k00ks who had rendezvoused at MtLodge With fairly heavy snow coming down, we decided to ride lifts from Dieni, a 10 minute walk from the hotel, over towards Andermatt and see how far we got. The forecast 5-10 cm turned out to be more like 20-30 cm and deeper in the wind loaded places. At Dieni, we made 1 lap before heading up and over into Val-Val where we kind of got stuck lapping a sweet stash of pow at least 4 times before punching it further West into the Oberalppass zone and ripping lines of powder varying from boot top to waist deep until lunch was called at the hutte there. When Mr. Mike and I tried to share a charcuterie board, the waiter either misunderstood or was taking the tourists for a ride, yelling "YOU ORDER, I MAKE" as we tried to clarify we only wanted 1 order.

Afternoon brought a few more laps on the Schneehuenderstck gondy before we started making our way back towards Dieni where again we spun run after run of virgin pow turns, finally some of us throwing in the towel at 3:00 after milking one more untracked zone. We took the sled run all the way back to Rueras and MtLodge for drinks and a delicious dinner. More of the maggot crew had arrived.

Dieni

Next morning Tuesday, most of the fistful had targeted Andermatt, so we took the early train over and ramped and raged off the Gemsstock tram. Skiing the West couloirs first thing proved to be not such a good idea for some. After a warm up, a few of us went out to ski the Giraffe which only had about 15 tracks in it. We returned to it again later to find only 30 or so tracks. After a few more front side runs, the whole fistful took the Guspis down to Hospental which had wide swaths of uncut snow and the usual stunning scenery, ending with beer and dried meats at the Gotthard Haus before a train ride back to Rueras.

Guspis at 4:00 pm

Skiing into Hospental

Next day, Wednesday, the host with the most, Michele at mt-lodge, had arranged enough transport for us to go over to St. Moritz via the Juler Pass and Bivio. Once at Corvatsch, the highest ski area in St. Moritz, we met Michele's buddy Matteo who took us first down the Northwest couloir to ski acres of stunning pow, then over to Val Roseg past Piz Roseg and the Morteratsch Gletscher and down to lunch at Hotel Restaurant Roseg Gletscher which was awesome. Then an ugly 37 minute long pole and skate out to Pontresina to catch the bus over to Corviglia where we took the 2 stage funicular and a chair ride. Then a little traverse and bootpack to drop into Val Bever with hectares of uncut, Northwest facing powder skiing. The day ended at Gasthaus Spinas with beer and another series of train and bus rides back to pizza in Celerina.

Lunch of cream of asparagus soup with prawn at Hotel Restaurant Roseg Gletscher

Icefall off back of Piz Roseg

Piz Roseg

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Dropping into Val Bever

Thursday, the morning destination was Disentis, a 5 minute train ride to Acla da Fontauna and a short walk up to the tram.It was a gorgeous bluebird day with evidence of the suns heat on some of the south facing slopes. After a warm up, we took a short skin up to one of the entries to Val Strem to the West. With a little downclimb from the col into a couloir, we were set for a few thousand vertical of Northwest facing pow surrounded by rock and ice. We skied out to the train at Sedrun and hopped it, going West pver to Andermatt to meet with another portion of the crew. The afternoon was spent mostly skiing in the main bowl under the upper Gemsstock and finishing with a lap out into the Felsental where we continued to find good soft lightly tracked powder.

Val Strem entrance couloir

Scott smoking up the Val Strem pow

Val Strem from the bottom

Felsental

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Friday, the last day at Rueras, we had planned to do the Oberalpstock, a well known descent of over 2000 meters, and one I had lusted after for a decade. North facing down into the Maderental valley. Michele had arranged for guides, some Italian friends of his and we were off to start at 8:30 on the early Disentis tram. The original plan had been for the group of 17 to split into 2 groups, one to do the Oberalpstock, which has some technical parts, and the other group to take a more mellow tour down into Val Strem. Unfortunately, our guides were not comfortable with splitting the group, so some of us decided to not take the tour and instead ski pistes at Disentis.

The climb involved a fairly easy skin to start with then a bit of a traverse to a via ferrata that climbs a rocky section and leads onto another traverse followed by a short downhill section. I am notoriously slow on the skin track, so by the time we skied the short downhill section and started another longer climb, I was far behind the main group. At one point the skin track split with one variation going to the climbers left and up to the summit of the Oberalpstock itself. The right branch took a mellower ascent to a shoulder where the actual skiing down the North side began. I was convinced the group had headed up the summit and I was lagging, so I headed up intent on catching up with the rest of the group. But in fact, they had taken the mellower right branch and were waiting for me there. Hell bent on summiting, I argued in broken English with the guide, Rosso who relented and accompanied me to the summit where to my surprise there were no other members of the group. So I skied down mashed potato snow from the south facing summit and sidestepped to catch the group.

Oberalpstock traverse before via ferrata

Climbing the via ferrata

Oberalpstock summit selfie

View across first portion of Oberalpstock after via ferrata

View from the Oberalpstock summit

Looking down into Maderental 2400 vertical meters below

Skiing down the Oberalpstock

The Oberalpstock is enormous and despite a lot of tracks, we found sections of uncut, consistent steep pitches rolling North into the Maderental of vertical drop around 2200 meters. One section near the bottom was hard ice and the guides set up ropes to help control that section.

Eventually we skied corn in an avalanche chute down into a cow pasture. It was an all-time route appropriate to end the trip.

Walking along the Maderental

Special thanks to Michele for organizing the trips to St. Moritz, the Oberalpstock and providing warm, abundant hospitality at MtLodge. Also thanks to my ski fiend pals Subtle Plague, bw_wp_hedonism and all the maggot k00ks who showed up to sample skiing in the Swiss Alps.

MountainLodge

#skiing #powder #europe #last chair #backcountry #alps

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