Deumanus Mountains

Following that misadventure, someone eventually comes across the sight of Alex lying there on the ground and, after a moment's hesitation, hurries over to him, the snow crunching loudly under their feet. When they get close enough, though, the newcomer starts to poke Alex in the back of the head with a stick.

"MrmmMmrrMmphmf?" the person asked between jabs.

"Mmmf mmf mmmf to you too, buddy," said Alex, rolling over onto his back to see this newcomer.

The person in question is wearing heavy snow gear and a large backpack, with their parka's hood tied up so tightly that it's a wonder they can even breathe properly, let alone see Alex. Gripping the pair of strings dangling from the neck of the suit's hood, they loosen it - revealing a weary lizard man underneath.

"Hm. Well, you're not dead at least, so that's a plus," said Quercus, lightly poking Alex's forehead with the stick.

Alex moves his hand in the way of the stick, pushing it to the side.

"Please stop that," said Alex, pushing himself up.

Alex took note of the newcomer - at first alarmed due to the shape, but very quickly realizing that he wasn't, in fact, Morbul. It was, however, a lizard man in an exceptionally cold environment, which was most certainly not ideal for anyone with cold blood.

Which, Alex realized, included him as he started to shiver.

"What are you doing up here?" asked Alex.

"Pilgrimage," answered Quercus with next to no explanation.

An awkward pause. He wasn't really good with this type of thing. Then again, when you've dedicated your life to hiding in a dank sewer performing questionable experiments all day, social skills naturally tended to get pushed out of your mind. And it was close to being an honest answer, anyway. Technically.

Snapping back to his senses, the lizard man quickly noticed Alex's shivering and swung his backpack around, dropping it to the ground and beginning to root around inside it for something. Might as well help him out, Quercus thought; they had already started with the talking, and as such he wasn't about to be the cause of someone's death now, indirectly or not.

"I could ask you the same question, frankly," said Quercus, before he pulled out various pieces of arctic gear from the bag and handed them to Alex, a few of which were clearly too big for him. "Any reason why you were lying face-down in the snow like that?"

Alex looked from the arctic gear, back to the lizard man, and back to the gear before taking a scarf and wrapping it around himself. It was very clearly not meant for him, but it made an impromptu jacket, at the very least. The rest of the stuff he didn't touch. In all likelihood the lizard man was trying to stay in the mountains, so he needed all the gear he could get - and far be it from Alex to take his stuff.

Well, nowadays, anyway. Back when Alex was still in the business taking stuff was kind of his deal. It's how he got most of his swords.

"I fell," said Alex.

Which, while about as short and to the point as 'pilgrimage', had just a bit more of an explanation.

A smirk seems to crack across Quercus' face for a brief moment as the lizard man places the rest of the gear back into the bag. Slinging it over his shoulders once more, he stands back up and nods at Alex.

"Hopefully that won't happen again. Good luck with your travels," Quercus said simply, tightening up his parka's hood and starting to hobble back the way he came.

"Weird dude," said Alex, not really to himself.

Alex turned away and started heading back down the mountain.

Despite being a decent distance away from him by now, Quercus nevertheless appears to have heard what Alex said; the lizard man visibly chuckling to himself as he walked back to the site of his original trail. He'd have to be weird, wanting to move here of all places, especially after what had just happened at the Bacaina Shrine. It was probably worth it, though; at least up here he wouldn't have to worry about dealing with violent genetic experiments that looked like they were regurgitated by a cat all day. He hoped that would be the case, anyway. Three times in a lifetime was too many.

After reaching the spot he initially saw Alex from, Quercus continued his trek up the mountain, this time stopping only when he came across the entrance to a small cave lying half-buried in the snow. Convenient, he thought; the long trip to get here was taking a toll on him, both mentally and physically, and he wasn't sure he could last much longer in this damnable cold.

Carefully setting his backpack down on the ground next to him, Quercus began digging into the snow pile, trying to unearth the cave's entrance.

There shouldn't be anything, or anyone, rather, interfering with Quercus' attempts to dig - unlike Crystal Land where everything's dead and the Wanbey Isles this icy area is relatively barren of life.

Alex, in the meantime, continues his lonely trek down the mountain, being careful not to slip and fall. Again. While it would be the fastest way down the mountain it would also be the most painful. Plus it would ruin the nice scarf jacket, which was doing more than Alex thought to keep him warm. Eventually, though, he does make it down to ground level and starts heading southwest...

With nothing to interrupt his digging, Quercus manages to exhume the cave entrance and hurries inside, just as a light blizzard starts to stir up around the mountains.

Once in the cave proper he proceeds to unpack, and in the span of a few hours the lizard man has pretty much everything he thinks he needs - a bed, a warm campfire, a pickaxe, food and research supplies, a makeshift door to ensure the safety of both him and said supplies, a door stop for said door, his trusty lantern and staff...

Eventually, when the transformation of the barren cave into a barren cave with some resemblance of a home is done, Quercus, completely exhausted from the long trip and having had little time to sleep, falls onto the bed and quickly passes out.