As told by Barbaric Chief Domus...

 It was roughly 50 years ago when I was traveling through the frozen wastelands north of Frostfall. The icy tundra extremely treacherous. I didn't know why I had to, but I felt the call of our ancestors drawing me to the frozen wastelands. I decided to travel to the north with my faithful Ice Wyvern with me. Our first day of travel was very uneventful, though a rough first day. The winds were so strong my wyvern couldn't fly in them, I tried to get him to turn back but he refused. Always loyal, my Ataxia, my faithful wyvern stood with me. We were in the middle of nowhere when it was reaching night, and spent most of the night making some sort of shelter, to hopefully shelter the icy chill of the winds. Before night fell, I knew the rest of our days travels would be very rough, as on the horizon I could see a coming storm. After shelter was built, it was time to rest and relax so my energy would return for the events for tomorrow.

This is how the ice wyverns left us, and how the Skri'ohns came to be with us and our guild. Today, barbarians now travel to the frozen tundra in search of the beasts to see if they will be worthy enough to have one as a friend.

Morning rose, and I awoke to the start of snowfall and some wind, I knew it would only be a matter of time before it would get worse. I unpacked furs from my pack and began layering them on me to help keep me warm. My faithful pet felt at home in the frozen tundra and watched over me protectively. Once I was ready, we abandoned the makeshift shelter in the snow, and continued on our journey. Every now and then I felt like I could hear a voice of some sort telling me where to go. I did not understand it, but knew I had to keep going. As the further we journeyed in to the frozen wastelands, the rougher it got, the winds picked up, the snow was falling harder, we were soon in the middle of a blizzard. Ataxia moved closer to me to help shield the wind off of me, and held one of his wings up at a strange angle to help shield the snow off. We continued on, I wasn't sure if hours passed, or minutes, or even seconds, but the storm that slammed in to us seemed to die off suddenly. But, then I realized why, when I looked behind us I could still see the blizzard raging on, and in front of us it looked like a forest that was frozen in time. The trees were covered in ice and glinted like crystal would in sunlight. It was then I realized we weren't alone, but being followed and being watched. I looked around the area warily, but could see nothing, Ataxia too seemed disturbed. I built shelter here at the tree line so we could rest, traveling through the blizzard sapped at least my energy. Once shelter was built, I took the time to fix up some food, knowing that there was something near us, I didn't risk a fire and cooking. Ataxia and I ate the cured meat I brought with me on the journey raw. While we ate, I again got the feeling of something watching us, but still couldn't see what it was, Ataxia again was disturbed, but just like me couldn't figure out what was near. After eating, I could finally feel my body needing rest again, so I took my rest to regain my energy.

Morning stroke, the light from the ice forest woke me up, the prismatic colors coming from the forest staggering, the site alone was beautiful to behold. As I stretched my legs and prepared once more to keep going on, I could hear the voice again that motivated this journey in the first place. I still couldn't understand what it was saying or what it wanted, all I knew I had to keep going, and maybe I'll be able to understand it. I packed up my stuff, and then Ataxia and I entered the forest, even though we both had the foreboding feeling that something was near and watching. While going through the forest I held the mighty axe of the guild, Galboa, having it ready for anything, in case the thing or whatever it was watching us decided to attack us. A few hours in to the forest, I began to get the idea that going through it wasn't a great idea, but looking at the perimeter of the forest it almost seemed like it never ended. The sounds in the forest were overwhelming, I could hear the creaking and cracking of branches that fell from the weigh of the ice, and then it sounded like they shattered upon impact on the ground. I would've turned back but it was hard to discern which way we came, as everything looked the same. Ataxia and I kept going forward carefully, trying to be as aware of our surroundings as possible.

Telling the time of day in the forest was extremely hard, as the ice covered trees refracted light everywhere, so it almost seemed like the forest was always midday. Though luckily during our travel through the forest up ahead of us I could see a clearing. I could only hope when we get there that I would be able to get an idea of what the time of day was and to perhaps relax without thinking of getting killed by a falling branch. We were unfortunately unlucky when we reached the clearing. It was a large clearing, and upon entering it I realized that it wasn't naturally made. I could see fallen trees and branches, some of the trees uprooted, others broken down. I wanted to move back the way we came, but it was already too late. I didn't notice it at first, but as soon as I heard the rumbling movement, I knew what it was. Ataxia got in front of me protectively, and I readied my axe, we heard the roar from the beast in front of us. It go up with lightning speed, even though it was nursing a broken wing, its eyes staring us down. Staring right at us was a fully grown and mighty dragon of the wastelands. A battle ensued between the three of us, it felt like it lasted for hours. The strong tail strikes of the dragon found their place on me a couple of times, nearly breaking my right arm. The might axe head of Galboa struck home and bit through the hard scales of the dragon. The strong tail stings and bites from Ataxia helped out as well. We were victorious over the dragon, but unfortunately at a heavy price. When the battle was over, I found Ataxia lying motionless on the ground, my faithful mount fatally wounded. His wings were broken and the dragon broke his neck. The eyes of my friend stared at me knowingly, I patted his forehead knowing what he was asking me to do. I took my axe and ended his life, to end his suffering, he served me well. Even though hurt, I took the time to build a tomb around Ataxia to honor the life he had, he was truly a wonderful friend to me. After, I tended to my wounds from the fight, and used the dragons corpse as shelter. This time I took the time to build a fire for warmth, and to cook food. I sliced some meat from the dead dragon and cooked it to help restore my energy and to curve my hunger. I felt good beating out the forest, and the dragon, but was somewhat disheartened with the loss of my mount.

While sitting there under the wing of the dragon, eating and resting, I once again felt something nearby, but didn't know what. I only wondered what now, I was tired from the fight with the dragon, my right arm hurt a lot and it was hard to wield the axe. I then heard the voice that brought me out here in the first place, and this time I could understand it, it was telling me about a beast with lightning speed, a natural hunter, and that I was to find this beast and to tame it. I thought at this moment the task would be impossible. I got up from where I was sitting and screamed out “Why!” at the top of my lungs. I was tired and angry. It was then I saw the glowing yellow eyes staring at me. I made eye contact with those eyes. With a blur of movement, the eyes seemed to disappear, and then I saw what thing held those eyes. Standing near the tomb of my fallen friend was a large beast. It's sleek fur slowly changed from the color of its surroundings to a brownish grey. The large beast resembled a wolf, but it wasn't. After it was done checking out the tomb, it turned to me and looked at me, I once again locked my eyes with its. The hackles on its back were raised, but it didn't growl or show its teeth, it was regarding me warily, wondering if I was a threat. I dropped my weapon to the ground and moved forward, watching it. The hackles lowered and it sleeked forward. Its movements were graceful and seemed to move with great speed even when moving slowly. The beast reminded me of a wolf, but I knew it wasn't, it was greater than that. With each movement you could see its mighty muscles ripple. I reached out my hand to it to let it get my scent and to show that I was no threat to it. When it got close enough it sniffed my hand, and then looked at me expectedly. I didn't know what it wanted, so I moved closer and placed my hand on its head, beginning to pet the silky smooth fur of its head. As I was petting it and examining it, I could hear the voice again, it was telling me that this mighty beast is the friend we barbarians have been looking for.

A few days have past now, the creature visiting me at certain times of the day, we seemingly became more and more like friends. My arm was finally feeling better, finding what I was to find, I knew it time to go back to the guild, I was long over due already for my return. The creature returned earlier than normal this day, just as I got my things packed. But this time, he wasn't alone, it seemed like his whole pack was there, I could see the yellow eyes watching and looking. I was looking on amazed to see so many, I then realized how intelligent they were. The one that I have been befriending picked up my pack in its mouth and then looked at me and then back at his pack. I understood, they wanted to come too. I nodded and when I did so the creature bent down to allow me to ride upon its back. When I took my seat, I could feel the mighty muscles and just how strong it was. It turned to look at me and I took my pack from its mouth. It let out a short howl, that was answered by its pack behind us, the howl almost sounding it was saying, “We are going home.” The fur on the creature I was riding started to change, I was amazed to see it change in to the landscape, ever changing to match its surroundings. It took a great whiff of the air, and then we were off with great speed. I had no idea how fast we were moving, but the speed was amazing, it was fully aware of everything that was around it, and it moves gracefully with this speed and power.

We were soon out of the frozen forest, and on the open frozen wasteland plains, every now and then the pack would slow, taking a sniff of the air, and then picking up its pace again. Soon we got to places I could recognize in the frozen tundra, and then realized that these things were following my scent back to where I came from. I was amazed, their ability to track surmounted anything I could fathom. I patted the creatures neck reassuringly letting it know that it was indeed doing a good job. We were soon nearing Frostfall, and it was here where the creatures paused and looked on. I got off of the one that allowed me to ride it. Looking on to the city and then back at the pack of these creatures, I wasn't sure how welcomed they would be. I turned and looked at them all and told them, “It would be safe for you all to stay near the city, but in the frozen tundra. When one of our guild is ready, they will come searching for you, and then it is for you to decide if they are worthy or not.” They seemed to understand, the pack let out a howl and then disappeared in to the frozen tundra. The one that allowed me to ride it stayed near me, and we made our way to the guild.

Upon entering the guild, many barbarians looked on, not knowing what was next to me, one second they could see the mighty beast and its yellow eyes, and the next they could only see the yellow eyes taking them all in. One came to me and said, “Domus, where is your wyvern? What is this creature near you?” I looked on at the young barbarian and all the others there. “Ataxia fell in battle, sadly, but he will be remembered. He was a great friend...” I turned and patted the beast next to me. “This creature here is a Skri'ohn, a beast of legend. His name is Durnth. And there is many more of them, for those who are deemed worthy.” Durnth let out a calling howl, and in the distance you could hear his pack answering the call. “These beasts are graceful and powerful. They move with great speed, and have the finest camouflage as you all have just witnessed. On top of that, have the greatest ability to track, you should never loose your way if you have one with you. If you have elusive prey, it should find it. The other amazing thing about them, is they can share their speed with you.” The other barbarians nodded and took in the information. One spoke up, “But, how do we know we are worthy of having one? What do we need to do to show it?” I shook my head, “They are very intelligent beasts, they will let you know if you are or not.” After talking to the other barbarians, I left Durnth there in the entrance hall for all the others to see. I moved to the tower of the guild, where the Ice Wyverns were kept. They all looked on to me, I moved over to them and opened their cages, and released them. The keeper looked at me, “Domus, what are you doing?” I smiled and looked at him, “In remembrance of Ataxia, I free these wyverns so they can seek their own glory, like he did.”