After a very comfortable night with Sigmir, it was time to greet a new day and ready ourself for our journey. During the storm last night, I had felt an attraction within the storm, pulling the forces of Ice and Snow to a point north of us. My personal guess was that the elemental nexus we were searching was in that direction but not knowing the distance or even if I was right was making that a bit iffy.
In the morning, we were out, gathering foodstuff to continue our journey when something strange happened. A large, black raven flew down before me and started to caw. At the same time, I heard something in my head. “Help me, help me, save my sister and I will be yours for a year and a day, help me!” It was an eerie feeling, as if the caws of the raven were translated to me in my mind.
A quest appeared to shed light on the situation.
Quest Alert! Save the Raven's Sister Quest Difficulty Hard You were asked to rescue the Sister of a Raven. Quest Reward The Raven becomes your bonded Companion for a year and a day.
“Follow, follow” again, the raven cawed and his caws were translated into my mind. With those caws, the Raven took off, leaving Sigmir and me standing dumbfounded in the snow.
I used observe on the raven and got:
Spirit Raven, Level 24
“Did you get that quest as well?” I asked Sigmir. She shook her head. “Did that raven really just talk to us? I only heard legends... If it gave you a quest, we should follow.” she then said.
With that we both took off, moving swiftly through the snow, taking that ground-eating clip we had adopted while fleeing her tribe, by now my Athletics-skill had gained a couple of points and I was able to keep up with Sigmir and her longer legs without running myself into the ground.
Following the Raven was not always easy as it's way took it over a few difficult spots so it had to circle in the air to wait for us but we managed. After maybe half an hour of running, the Raven flew down and we could see our goal.
On a rocky hillside before us raged a battle. On one side were Black Wolves, similar to those we had hunted the last few days, on the other side were Wolves with pelts the colour of hoarfrost, a beautiful white-grey. Sadly, the hillside was filled with corpses, both black and grey. I felt a strong melancholy about the blood, staining the grey pelts, a sadness about the destruction of beauty, morose about their fate. And the battle was nearly over, few grey wolves remained, soon and they were driven into a corner, back against the rocks that made an escape impossible for them.
The raven landed on my shoulder, cawing again. “Save her, save her.” this time, I felt which wolf was 'her' it was one of the larger remaining grey wolves. Saving her would be impossible but I had one thing I could try.
“Cover me!” I told Sigmir and my mind went back to last night. No, not to the time with Sigmir between the furs but before, the time that I'd been the storm. Right now, I had to become the storm, I had to call the storm and guide it or I would not be able to save the grey wolves.
My mind activated the Overflow-Ability and my hand started moving on its own, drawing runes I knew intimately into the air. It would take seven runes to call the storm and it would take all my Ice-Magic to guide it as I didn't want to simply lay waste to the hillside, I wanted to save the grey wolves. Luckily, all of them were towards the higher ground, making the guiding and targeting quite a bit easier. Ice – Hail – Cold – Mist – Hail – Hard Ice – Cold were the runes my mind had drawn to call the storm. A large, Rune-Heptagon was in front of me, it floated silently in the air, taking the power I was channelling into it and then it flashed, discharging what I had put into it and high in the air, maybe a few hundred feet up, a large Heptagon formed, connected to the one in front of me.
And then came the storm. At first, it was just a cloud, billowing out of the Heptagon but then the cloud burst and large and small Icicles hailed down onto the wolves. Some were large enough to be called Ice Spears, others were just the size of rice-grains. But there were a lot of them. I was unable to truly aim them, having to focus on making sure they were not striking the grey wolves, but if you have walked in the rain and tried to dodge the drops in order to prevent getting wet, well, it's impossible.
The assault caused quite a few of the black wolves to turn, charging towards us but as they closed in on us, they started to falter and gave Sigmir time to deal with them. She stood her ground, protecting me with both her body and her Lok'nar, making sure I was able to cast my magic without interruption.
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While I was casting, I felt some tugs on the falling ice, redirecting it. I didn't fight it and every time the tugging redirected one of the icicles, it struck true on one of the Black Wolves.
The falling ice cleaned the hillside in a hurry, killing off a lot of Black Wolves in the process until only those too close to the grey wolves and those that attacked Sigmir remained. It drained all my Astral Power with it, though, so I was soon forced to end the Rune Formation to keep what little power remained to make sure that the rest of the spell did not kill Grey Wolves. Within moments, the Heptagon over the hillside dispersed and a few icicles fell but I was able to guide them into Black Wolves. Then my spell was over and I pulled my Frozen Butterfly-Wings out and moved to support Sigmir. Together, we stood our ground, me behind her, guarding her back and from time to time using the regenerated Astral Power to use my Hardened Shuttle, creating openings that either Sigmir or I could exploit. It took a bit of time, but the Black Wolves realized that we were not falling and their numbers were dwindling. A large, Black Wolf, further back, howled and all of them turned and started to flee. Still, we had been successful and saved the remaining Grey Wolves.
With the Black Wolves on the run, the Raven, that had circled in the air above us was flying down and landed on my shoulder.
You have been part of a Battle. As you were not part of either of the groups struggling, your EXP-Cut is greatly reduced. You gained 14 153 EXP
Skill increased You increased your skill: Ice Rune-Mastery [41/100]
Skill increased You increased your skill: Ice Magic [44/100]
Skill gained You gained the Skill: Dual Blade-Mastery Most fighters prefer the use of Two-Handed Weapons or use a Shield. Some prefer the use two Blades, allowing for a high-paced offensive Fighting-Style. The required Agility makes it virtually unusable while wearing Armour or in a Battle-Line.
Quest Completed You completed the Quest: Save the Raven's Sister You gained: 15 000 EXP
You reached level 32.
The Raven cawed again, “Thank you, you saved her! I, [Wind that lifts your wings to soar] will serve as your Spirit Companion as I promised.” The name the Raven introduced itself with was not so much a name that could be translated into something that would be a name to me as it was a specific feeling wind and without wings, languages had no need for words for that. Still, it was an interesting thought-concept that got transmitted.
Then another screen appeared.
You are offered a Spirit Bond A level 24 Spirit-Raven, of Hugin's line, has offered to serve as your Spirit Beast for a year and a day. Unless you have a class or traits to allow you more Spirit Beasts, you can only have one. Accept? Yes No
I accepted and gained multiple abilities.
Companion gained You entered a Spirit-Bond. Your bonded Spirit Beast can rest within a Hallow, created in your body, giving you access to some abilities or it can stay in it's separate form. Some abilities are active all the time. As you and your Companion grow, more abilities will become available. You can also communicate with your Companion using telepathy.
Companion Ability gained You gained the Companion Ability: Universal Understanding This ability of the line of Hugin allows you to understand and speak any language as long as your Companion is bonded with you.
Companion Ability gained You gained the Companion Ability: Raven's Eye While your Companion is outside it's Hallow and not too far away from you, you can look at the world through it's eye and cast spells from your companion's position, The flow of Astral Power through your companion will however take a toll.
Companion Ability gained You gained the Companion Ability: Raven's Thought While your Companion rests in it's Hallow, you gain its connection to the Astral, increasing your Astral Power-Regeneration.
The raven started to flap it's wings and flew off, heading towards the hillside and the wolves. Sigmir and I followed over, interested in the circumstances we had just stumbled in.
When we reached there, the raven had landed next to the wolf it had asked us to save and the wolf was curling around the raven, so it was obvious they were glad to be with each other.