As soon as I step outside the cave I notice the clouds and the smell on the wind. Looks like it is going to snow again soon, we need to finish this hunt and get back before it gets bad. Telling Kechara to lead the way we quickly move away from the cave, as we go I grab any fallen branches I see to replenish my firewood.
As I follow Kechara I am hoping that the beast we are after isn't too much further. As things stand now it would take about three hours at least to return to her cave. From the look of the clouds we probably only have an hour or so until it starts snowing.
A half hour later Kechara stops on a rise, as I move up next to her I see a wide valley just ahead of us. By following Kechara's gaze I spot our target, which is a boar from the look of it. At first I am disappointed because boar fur normally isn't all that great.
Kechara leads the way down into the valley and as we get close my disappointment fades. The closer I get to the boar the better it looks, for one thing the distance made me misjudge its size. Now that I am closer I can tell the boar is the size of an elephant, and it has a thick looking coat of fur.
As I look at the thing I am not really seeing an opponent, all that I am seeing is a big warm winter coat. As I walk into the area I draw Blitz and don't even try to hide, I want the thing to see me. As soon as it does, it will charge me, then I will dodge and cut its head off, that way the hide won't be damaged.
For some reason I forgot everything I have learned in this world, and that all the beasts here cheat. When the boar spots me all it does is turn so it is facing me, it doesn't charge. As I continue walking towards it trying to get it to charge me it suddenly opens its mouth and spits a ball of fire at me.
While I may be surprised I was still ready to dodge already, so dodging the small fireball is still easy. The problem comes when the second fireball is already on its way, and there are more behind it. The boar is spitting out fireballs constantly, I am still dodging them but it is getting harder.
It doesn't look like the boar is going to stop any time soon, so I need to move closer to it while dodging. At first it is easy and I make progress, but the closer I get the harder it is to dodge. This isn't working, I can't get close enough just by dodging, but wait, I don't have to just dodge!
'Absorb!'
Holding out one hand I let the small fireball hit it and watch as it disappears.
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Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Just like that I am able to walk forward, catching every single firebolt on my hand until I am close enough to strike.
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
Firebolt Absorbed! +1 Fire Resist!
With a quick lunge Blitz enters the boar's mouth and penetrates through the roof of the mouth into the brain. It drops dead instantly and I let out a sigh of relief, only then do I realize I made a mistake. If I hadn't killed it so quickly I could have just kept absorbing the firebolts and increased my fire resist.
While gaining fire immunity would have been nice, it is too late now, I will try to think it through next time. I ask Kechara if she has seen another boar but she shakes her head, so I start skinning the boar. I am very careful while skinning it since this was the whole point of the hunt, a new coat.
As I am skinning the boar it finally starts snowing, at first it is light but that doesn't last long. Once it is skinned I put the skin in my pouch and start to quickly butcher the rest. As I work I let Kechara have all the insides and organs except the heart and the core.
Everything goes into my pouch as quickly as I can manage and as soon as the body is gone I get up and start retracing my steps. Even if we can't get back home we need to at least get back to the cave we spent the night in. This storm looks like a bad one and without shelter I am likely to die, although Kechara will probably be fine.
If we can't get back to the cave my best option will be to have Kechara coil up around me as a sort of living igloo. What I really need is something like the boar that uses a cold based attack so I can increase my cold resist! That idea will have to wait until after the storm, for now survival is the priority.
It turns out that me having to wade through the snow is a good thing, the path I made getting here is easy to follow. The storm will probably fill it in before long but for now I can move fairly quickly. Kechara is having no problems at all, in fact she seems to really enjoy the storm.
Again I can't help but feel jealous, here I am working hard to move along and she is dancing around like this is a spring meadow. My feet are frozen so that it feels like I am walking with ice cubes instead of feet. The storm has lowered visibility to only a couple of feet, and the snow is coming down nonstop.
I have already given up on making it back to Kechara's cave, my only thought now is reaching the cave we stayed the night in. The wind and snow suddenly die down a bit and I quickly realize we have entered the trees. That means we are only a few minutes away from the cave, looks like I am going to survive this time.
From now on I am not going to underestimate the weather on this mountain! Finally reaching the cave I quickly duck inside and shake the snow off of me. Then I move to the center so that Kechara can come in and I start building a fire, I can't wait to feel warm!