Glemp came back with two small stone plates filled with various types of sautéed mushrooms covered in a sweet and spicy type sauce. Zalia wolfed hers down with a voracious appetite before her little alchemist buddy was even part way through.
After they had eaten, Glemp led Zalia back down the cavern closer to what would be the level she came in at. They showed her the main entrance to the cavern from the outside, two massive stone doors at the end of a long hallway, barred with three large obsidian beams. At a motion from Glemp, two nearby guards started chanting in unison, their eyes glowing the deep red Zalia now associated with lava magic. The three beams of obsidian melted, flowing away and reforming nearby before the two pushed open the doors.
“I might be a week or two Glemp, I’m quite unfamiliar with these lands and don't know how long a hunt will take,” said Zalia
“Yes, yes, as long as you will need of course, yes. It is shocking one at such a level as you can survive at all out there, yes,” replied Glemp.
“I appreciate the faith you have in me,” said Zalia sarcastically, a smile on her face.
“Oh and hey, if you travel down that crack that you first found me having come out of, you’ll find a big creature you might have an interest in studying.. It's kind of trapped under a tonne of ice, snow and rocks though,” Zalia added on.
She held out her fist to the small alchemist. Glemp looked at her with a confused expression.
“Like this,” Zalia said, fist bumping her own hand with the other, holding it back out.
Glemp gave her a fist bump with their small three fingered hand, their own face holding a sharp toothed smile
“Yes, I will look for this creature you speak of, yes, yes,” Glemp said, before turning back and walking into the cavern as the two doors closed shut with a muffled boom.
She could barely see where the doors had closed, the opening seamlessly disappearing into the rockface. She turned her back to the doors looking out at the snow laden land as a gust of cold wind blew across, tussling her hair,
“Home, sweet home,” Zalia whispered to herself, before putting on her snow jacket, wrapping her scarf around her lower face, putting the hood up and with a smile, she set off.
Zalia returned to where the bear creature had chased her into the mountain in the first place, finding that there was very little chance she would dig out that entrance any time soon. She followed the path of destruction back to where she had dropped the deer she had caught on her first moment in this place. To her disappointment she found that some creature had come by and feasted on the deer in her absence.
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“Piece of shit, that was my catch,” Zalia muttered, looking at the tracks around her.
She collected her rope and slightly chewed tarp before properly checking out the tracks.
“Five creatures, about half my size, four legs and the shits were here not so long ago,” Zalia murmured.
Deciding against hunting them down immediately, she got out the few sprigs of lavender, thyme and rosemary she had and used her preparation skill on them. She watched in awe as the leaves stripped off the hardy wood stems and dried immediately, neatly separating themselves into piles. Unlike most of her hunter abilities, this was a very visible effect and it really brought home the fact that yes, magic was real. She then pulled out some of the Bitterbalm she had and used stasis on it. The herbs went eerily still, not being affected by the wind or movement. She realised it would most likely keep the herbs fresh, more important for some uses than others but definitely a good skill. She quickly used it on all the other herbs she had on her, keeping them as fresh as possible.
Congratulations! Stasis has reached Tin 2.
“Damn that's addictive,” she thought, smiling a little.
Zalia saw a bush with some of the berries she didn't recognise on her first time through and went to go have a look
? (Poisonous) - Tin rank
Picking some and looking again it said,
? (Poisonous)(Potent) - Tin rank
Then using preparation on them she watched as they crushed, the husks being thrown away before an almost slimy substance was left behind which promptly plopped to the floor as she didn't want to catch it. Looking down at it, a message read,
? (Poison)(Potent) - Tin rank
She got a few more and this time held up her emptied quiver underneath them, letting the substance fall in. Pushing all her arrows into the quiver, she took one back out again and to her delight it had the poison coating the arrowhead.
“Oh that is just cool,” Zalia said.
Grabbing a few more berries, Zalia used stasis on them and put them away in the small pouch at her side.
Congratulations! Preparation has reached Tin 2.
Congratulations! Harvester has reached Tin 2.
Congratulations! Aura observation has reached Tin 2.
The three abilities ranked up as she used her skills and read the information they provided for her. She set off through the forest, using her skills as much as she could, finding a few more berries that were edible. She must have left a trail of nicely cut and dried herbs and berries as she went, not really having anywhere to put them.
As it got closer to midday, Zalia decided to set up a hunting blind. Less for what its actual purpose would be but more as a home base to come back to. Using three nicely spaced trees as posts, she spent most of the rest of the day cutting down lengths of wood and using the back of the hand-axe to hammer them into place between the trees. She left space for an entrance and one small window on one side. She found a nearby river and thoroughly washed her tarp in it before tying it to the top of her makeshift home as a roof, a few pieces of wood to provide support underneath. She then piled up snow on top and around the thing to camouflage it in a bit. It was not very spacious but she didn't need much, just a somewhat safe place to sleep. She gathered a few more berries from nearby, eating them as she sat in the small blind in her sleeping bag. With her harvester skill, they were much more filling than she would have thought and she fell asleep on the ground, rugged up.