After a restful night, Sigmir and I were quite happy with the world in general. Both of us felt that we were safe and there was a clear path forward. At breakfast, we joked around with our host and Kallista even made us some provisions to take with us, as we planned to head to the north first, looking for the boar and if we found it, we'd head south-east, looking for the Fangtrees. As we talked, Kallista lent us a second, large Bag of Holding, this one even having a conservation-enchantment so we could store the carcasses of any game we happened to kill. In addition I was able to talk Kallista out of quite a few herbs and vegetables, so I'd be able to cook something tasty. She also offered us a room during our stay, saying that she had enough room in her house and was happy to have us.

Well prepared we headed out, starting at the farm to track the boar. Ylva played hound, tracking the trail but honestly, even I was able to make it out, it was that obvious. Well, what do you expect when a beast the size of a compact car makes it's way through the forest? So, tracking the beast was the easy part. The not-easy part came when we tracked it down.

We caught up to the boar as it was sleeping in a small clearing and thinking that it would not be that hard, as it was only marked 'Medium Difficulty' in comparison to the Hard-Difficulty quests we had done over and over, we went for it. I started the fight with Icicles, trying to wound it from the get-go, while Ylva circled to attack it's rear. Sigmir went straight up in order to grab it's attention.

My Icicles struck true and at the same time, Ylva jumped in, biting it's hind-legs trying to cripple it's movement.

Well, my tried and true Icicles struck it's thick hide and did absolutely nothing, they failed to penetrate the thick, coarse fur, simply bouncing off. Ylva barely got her jaw around the hind-leg and the boar twisted, dodging Sigmir's strike and at the same time, throwing Ylva through the air and following up with it's tusks, gouging a huge wound into her side. Seeing her companion struck like that, Sigmir immediately went to take her into her Hallow so I could take care of her later. Doing so, sadly left Sigmir open to attack and right after Ylva had vanished, Sigmir got run over by the boar. I tried to help but my shuttle was only creating small cuts, I'd have to strike the same spot over and over to get anywhere and the boar was not holding still for me, to hit it. Then I saw the small wounds swiftly scab over and vanish. This thing had insane Vitality.

I used observe to gain more knowledge of our enemy.

Dire Boar, level 40

I had started thinking on an exit-strategy as soon as my spells and Ylva bounced off so I had a bit of a plan. I recalled my shuttle and with one hand and mental process I started to cast a Curse of Disorientation, with the other I threw together a mist-spell to conceal me and Sigmir, hoping for a successful get-away. We got lucky that the boar had run over Sigmir, not gorged her with it's tusks or the situation would have been truly bad. Like this, Sigmir managed to get up and I was able to help her move away. Hearing the boar rage around in the mist was quite intimidating, as were the deep bruises Sigmir was carrying.

After retreating for a bit, Ylva left her Hallow and I focused on healing her, making sure that there were no more problems. With that done, it was planning time.

“I don't think my Ice-Magic will affect it at all, it's pelt is too thick. Maybe something with Darkness, but that would take quite a bit of time.” I suggested.

“Maybe you could use your Blood-Runes to strengthen us, then use Darkness to weaken it. I don't believe that one measly boar can get the best of us. I refuse to believe it.” Sigmir stated with conviction.

“Yes, I agree. I can still distract and harry it, even if I can't do much. My fangs will cause pain, even if they don't cause lasting damage. I doubt it is smart enough to realize that.” Ylva growled after her wounds had closed. “But I will make certain that it won't get me again.”

Now, that we had the resemblance of a plan, it was time for round two. This time, the opening was a bit more covert, Lenore flew up on a branch and with Raven's Eye, I used another Disorientation-Curse on the boar. The Darkness spell took less out of Lenore, allowing me to cast maybe two Triangle or a single Pentagon-Spell made out of Darkness through her without hurting her.

Then I used a Heptagon-Spell, made out of Dark Radiance, Devouring, Regenerate and Strength in order to weaken it, so I did not simply fire it, I stood and channelled into it, hoping that the combination of Disorientation and the physical assault of Sigmir and Ylva would be enough to keep me safe. With my other mental process, I tossed single, one-shot spells at it, mixing Disorientation and Devouring effects to weaken it further. Luckily, it worked out quite well, Sigmir and Ylva were using tried and true pack-tactics, one feinting, the other striking. Not always with a feint from the front, they mixed it up, making sure that they did not get predictable.

It was still a brutal fight but we got truly lucky when the boar spun around in order to engage Ylva and Sigmir managed to strike a deep wound into one leg. Seeing the deep leg-wound I tried to mix Dark Radiance with Blood-Runes to make the wound bleed stronger and was awarded with a red fountain, painting the snow crimson. From then on, it became a lot easier to grind down it's monstrous Vitality, the combination of weakening spells and blood loss taking a toll on it.

It took some time, but in the end, the boar was no match, it stumbled and Sigmir took advantage, striking a brutal, overhead blow, using the length of her weapon for momentum, cleaving into the boars neck. Even with it's neck almost severed, it didn't die quickly, allowing me to use my Blood-Magic to siphon off quite a bit of power for future use. With the boar dead, there were EXP.

Dire Boar died You gain 3 000 EXP. For killing an opponent 6 levels above you, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Rune-Mastery [45/100] Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [36/100] Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Magic [15/100]

Now, we had to process it, as it would be a waste to leave it to rot. I asked Ylva to look for a camp-ground and helped Sigmir to skin the beast. Handling the carcass was a chore and a half due to the sheer mass of it but together, we managed it in a reasonable time frame. Then the Bags of Holding proved their worth many times over, allowing us to simply pack the pelt and the meat up and take it with us without it weighing us down. Ylva came back and guided us to a nice, dry overhang, protecting us from the wind and snow. By now, it had gotten dark and none of us had a huge desire to trudge through the darkness without urgent need.

After collecting some firewood, I cooked up a nice, hot stew, using some of the boar-meat and vegetables. I guess it was considered cooking, not just burning something as I got points for my cooking skill. Sigmir was quite happy with my cooking exclaiming about the taste, which was quite telling as I knew it was mediocre at best, considering the conditions I had to work in. But even I had to admit that the boar-meat was incredibly tasty, after I had cooked it long enough.

With full stomachs and happy thoughts, I cuddled up to Sigmir and it was time for bed.