Thanks to a combination of Telthor and Zara's aid and Feona's survival skills, the party managed to work their way over the slippery and difficult surface of the recent slide; the only moment of concern occurring when Elsibette fell off of her canine mount and bruised her rear in a short slide along the rough ice coated surface... fortunately, her loyal mount scrabbled after her and captured her by the collar like some misbehaving puppy.<br/><br/>Once remounted, the group continued onward the remaining dozen yards or so and made their way back down to the snow covered ground... Beau tripping over a treebranch buried under the 2 feet of snow.<br/><br/>The wind, now a constant moaning made communication, even through the earring all but impossible at anything lower than a shout, but after another hour of effort, Feona found the signs of the thieves again... but maintaining that tenious hold in the mist of the weather would be iffy at best under these circomstances.<br/><br/>With the big constrictor braking trail for the others, progress was slow and fingers and feet soon started to become numb... as did any exposed skin and the trail finally disappeared.<br/><br/>With little choice, the adventurers continued forward for another 20 minutes before elsibette's dog swung it's big head to the side and cocked it's head... a few moments later, the faint but distinct sound of a creaking chain and something slamming hard against a solid surface came over the screaming wind and sideways flying snow; although little could be seen much beyond their extended hands,it was relatively clear that something manmade was nearby.