A Jaded Life

After another night camping out, Sigmir, Ylva and I made our way to the south-east, looking for the Fangtrees, while looking for valleys and elk.

We managed to find one elk but no Dreaver so the pack Kallista had given us was rather filled now. The elk had given us a bit of trouble as it had tried to run but I had managed to cripple one of it's legs with my first strike, allowing Ylva to catch up.

The Fangtrees were quite distinctive, as they were a mix of Venus fly-trap, tree and tentacle-monster, making me question the sanity of this worlds evolution, or maybe the insanity of the gods, after all some god had mixed elfish dwarves and frost-giants to create the Firn-Elves.

Fighting them was quite sporting, trying to use my Darkness was quite pointless, their connection to the earth let them shrug off my draining spell without trouble. Extreme Cold however, made them sluggish and slow, as if they were trying to hibernate, letting Sigmir hack apart their feeder-tentacles and then move to the trunk, chopping it down with the lumber-axe we had been given. Taking down five of them and storing their trunks in the Bag of Holding took us two days but the EXP those things gave were quite high, even if they were only on our level.

When we were done, we decided to return to Neyto, taking a bit of a roundabout route and look for a second elk and the Dreaver on our way. On our second day, we saw a large, wooden dam, obviously built to fit into the landscape but not by sapient hands. There were many small tunnels into the dam so we went with the tried and true tactic of using airborne attacks, combining Cold, and Mist, Devour, Blood twice to flush them out. I didn't use Disorientation or Madness, so I could get the Dreavers out without damaging their pelts.

It took a few moments, but then a pack of strange beasts rushed out, meeting us. Sigmir and Ylva focused on keeping them away from me so I could kill them with my Darkness-Runes so we didn't damage the pelts which were our objective. Killing them gave me enough to level to 35 and I immediately spent the two attribute points bringing me to 25 Intelligence and 21 Intuition. There were nice things, I gained the ability to instantly project two runes with my Rune Projection allowing me to cast simple spells incredibly fast but with a high Astral Power Cost. In addition I gained another ability.

Special Ability gained

You gained a Special Ability: Magic Penetration

For having 25 Intelligence or higher you gained an ability, based on your play-style. The ability Magic Penetration allows your spells to ignore some of the enemies resistance to them.

The ability was not flashy in any way but after having trouble with enemies simply not caring about my spells, it sounded quite good.

Skinning the Dreaver was done on the spot and the pelts were stored in our normal backpack. Now, we just had to find one elk on our way back and we'd be done.

We stayed out in the wild for two more days, looking for tracks and convincing Lenore to scout from us from time to time and after those two days, we managed to find another elk and hunt it down. With that done, we went back to Neyto.

At first, we visited Cisar as we walked by his farm on the way in. To prove that we had killed the boar, we showed him the corpse.

Quest Completed!

You completed the Quest: Kill the Dire Boar

You gained: 15 000 EXP

“Hrm, what to give you? I could give you ...that, but just killing a Dire Boar is a bit lax for two of those. Come back tomorrow, I'll have something for you then.” said Cisar. As we were leaving we heard him mutter under his breath “Damn, what to give those two...?”.

We went back to Kallista next to get rid of the heavy load Sigmir was still carrying. Kallista gave me a happy hug in greeting, after seeing the village, I think she was missing female company, Neyto seemed predominantly male. After we hung the two elk at her butcher-stand, she acknowledged that we had done our quest, which triggered the completion-window and the Exp.

Quest Completed!

You completed the Quest: Hunt Elk for Kallista

You gained: 10 000 EXP

You reached level 36

“Well, you did as I asked. You only have those two small Bags of Holding, right? You can keep the one I gave you, it will serve you well. If you help me process those two elks, I'll give you something extra.” said Kallista ”I have a map of the region and can explain the lay of the land for you for helping me. If the Grandmother send you out, I'm sure knowing the circumstances will be useful.”

“I will help you, maybe Morgana can prepare Dinner?” proposed Sigmir, thankfully not mentioning my rather meagre skills when it came to skinning and butchering. I didn't turn all the pelt into scraps any longer but my cooking-skills were far more advanced than my butchering-skills.

“Sure, I can cook, but I'd like to turn the other two quests in. I don't want to keep the Dreaver-Pelts longer than necessary. Do you need to be nearby to get the acknowledgement?” I asked.

“No, that's fine, as long as we've done the quest together, one person is enough to turn it in for all of them. Oh, could you ask Praxi if he can make me a piece of armour out of the Dire Boar Pelt? Or if not, I'd love to borrow use of his facilities.” explained Sigmir.

“Dire Boar? Oh, I'd love to get my hands on the meat, it's delicious. I'll make it up to you!” came from Kallista. Seeing her excitement, I placed the huge remaining part of the Dire Boar next to her Butcher-stand so they could take the rest apart. The field dressing we'd done was fine but they could do quite a bit more with it.

After that, I left to meet the Blacksmith, waiting for him to interrupt his working, not wanting to distract him at an inopportune moment. After a few minutes of waiting, he looked up, this time without the angry outburst. “You done? Where's your friend? Thought she'd be with you.”

“She's currently helping Kallista. And yes, we are done. Here, have a look.” With that, I handed the Bag of Holding over to him.

Quest Completed!

You completed the Quest: Harvest Fangwood for Thekk

You gained: 10 000 EXP

“For my help, I have something in mind. Bring the Lok'nar of your companion over. Knowing the old Lady, I'm sure one of her tasks is going into the Barrow Den, I have something in mind that will help you quite a bit. Oh, and if you go in there, Draugr materialize in there with old, metal weapons. The metal those are made of is quite interesting, please collect it for me. I'll make it worth your while.”

Quest Alert!

Thekk goes Death Metal

Quest Difficulty Hard

Thekk wants you! To recover the gear used by the Draugr of the Barrow Den. The more you recover, the better the rewards.

Quest Reward Hand-Crafted Item from Thekk

“Now, off you go, and bring the Lok'nar by as soon as possible.”

With that I left the smithy to visit Praxi. He was not outside so I had to knock on his door and was asked inside. When I looked at him, I there was a strange sensation of vertigo, captivating my gaze and making me feel funny. He looked up with a smile, “Ah, you are back. And all alone this time.” then he stood and walked towards me. For some reason my mouth ran dry and I couldn't talk, couldn't think. Suddenly, a voice in my head called out. “Snap out of it, Morgana!” and Lenore materialized on my shoulder and smacked the back of my head with her wing. With the slap, I snapped out of it, I had to blink and the vertigo faded.

Special Ability gained

You gained the Special Ability: Mental Resistance

This ability strengthens your mind against outside influence. The resistance strength depends on your Courage and your Intuition.

“He tried to charm you! Be cautious!” cawed Lenore who was spreading her wings and trying to make herself as large as possible.

I got my guard up and placed both hands on my blades and readied the shuttle with my Ice-Magic. “Care to explain? I came to turn your quest in, not be assaulted!” I growled out.

Praxi blushed. “I apologize. I did not think to reign in my nature. I'm a Satyr, I naturally project a charm-effect, normally I rein it in as to not affect others but just now I forgot. Reining it in is a bit chafing which is why I don't do it in the privacy of my home. Again, I apologize. You said something about my quest?”

I kept my guard up while I gave him the pelts and asked if he wanted them all or just five. He agreed to take them all and increase the reward a bit.

Quest Completed!

You completed the Quest: Collect Dreaver Pelts for Praxi

You gained: 12 500 EXP

“Before I forget, Sigmir asked if you could craft her a nice piece of armour out of this?” I showed him the Dire Boar-Pelt. He inspected it for a moment, then agreed. “Yes, I can do that. Now, for my promised help. I'd like to work with your cloak for a bit and with the one of your companion. I have something useful in mind for you. It will only take a few hours so you can have them back tomorrow. For the armour, I'm afraid it will take longer, maybe a week. Now, could you bring me your friend’s cloak? Then I can start.”

Still a bit creeped out about his projected charm-effect and my reaction to it, I agreed. Then I walked back over to Kallista's house and asked Sigmir for her cloak and the Lok'nar. Kallista assured us that the craftsmen would do good work on both. I went back out, delivering both items, then came back to prepare dinner. Looking over the possible ingredients, I made a fake goulash and got multiple skill-points in cooking, making me a happy camper.

Soon, it was time for dinner and then Sigmir and I luxuriated in the warm bath, then enjoyed another night, sharing a bed. The last few days had been exhausting so neither of us was particularly horny, we just cuddled and enjoyed the feeling of closeness.