With Beth and Hissy following, quite some distance apart from each other, Anika led them to a thinner part of the forest. According to her map, they were right in the middle of where the ravens could be found. They walked along a wide track in the woods, looking up to see if there was any sign of the rare bird they were looking for. After a short distance along the road, they spotted a flock of ravens chopping away at a carcass in the middle of a clearing. Anika recalled that birds like crows and ravens were carrion birds, which meant that they would often eat the leftovers from roadkill and bins around the city back home.

As they got closer, the birds scattered, which led Anika to think this would be a tough challenge. How was she supposed to get close to one of these and get a collar around one of their necks? She figured that finding a place where the ravens nested might give her an opportunity to get close to one of them. After exploring the area for a while, she spotted several nests high in the trees, the only problem was that the trees were too narrow to climb, they didn't have the sturdy branches she would need to make her way up there.

Anika had almost given up hope and realised she would need advice on how to catch these things. It was at this point she stumbled on some old ruins lying way off the track they have been following. Out of curiosity, she went to have a look at them. From a short distance, she could see ravens perched at the top of a large tower, the only part of the old ruins that was still intact. She walked around the ruins twice, but there was no way she would be able to climb to the top. The inside of the tower had what looked to be a winding staircase, but over time it had crumbled, and there was no way for her to climb up on the inside of it. She decided to leave the place and continue looking elsewhere.

This was when Hissy drew attention to herself. It was as if she didn't want to leave the ruins, but it was hard for Anika to understand what was going on. Her spider companion just seemed to loiter around the base of the ruins, even when Anika had given a stern command for her to follow. Just like the feeling she had had outside of the spider cave, Anika thought to herself if it would make sense to place a rare version of the raven in a place like this. It was inaccessible, so combined with Hissy's strange behaviour, Anika thought there was a high chance she was in the right place.

If there were a rare bird at the top of the tower, the only way forward would be for them to set a trap and lure the bird down from its nest. When Anika decided that they should go looking for a kill to use as bait, Hissy had understood what she was planning. The spider was no longer reluctant to follow her and even skittered ahead as if it was happy with the scheme.

Anika spotted a wild deer some way off in the distance and pulled out her bow. She took it down with a clean shot before sending Beth in to collect it. Although Anika was pleased that Beth could fetch like a good dog, she was dismayed that the pelt had been messed up. It was a beautiful bit of fur, so she took the time to get a nice piece of skin before they returned to the ruins to place the trap.

Hissy was making a point of where to position the carcass of the deer. She had climbed to a short wall and was already spinning a web which covered a small space underneath, enough room for the corpse to be put inside. The web she had spun was beautiful. It had unusual symmetry and seem to be almost invisible, despite the thickness of the strands. When Anika looked around, she realised that she couldn't have picked a better spot herself and she thought to herself that this little creature knew a thing or two about setting up an effective trap.

With the carcass placed under the web, the three of them moved out of the way and took cover behind a larger wall belonging to the ruins. There was no guarantee that this would work. They didn't even know if there was any rare bird close by.

After waiting a short while, the smell from the dead animal had been carried high enough into the wind. Two ravens, none of them rare creatures, flew down and sat on the wall right above the trap. They seemed to look around for a while before deciding to start their meal.

Both of them got caught and tangled in Hissy's web. They flapped and squawked for a while before getting themselves stuck, then they seemed to give up and just hung there, dangling in the wind.

Hissy was eager to approach the trap and finish her catch, but Anika gave her a firm command to stay put. There was nothing rare about the two birds they had captured, so the best thing to do was to continue waiting and hope for the best.

After waiting for a couple of moments, their attention was drawn to the sky above them. With a loud squawk, another raven descended and perched itself on the wall right above their trap. It only took a few moments for Anika to focus on it and to realise that this was the rare bird they were after. It sat on the wall, calm as a cucumber, looking at the carcass underneath the web and its friends who were still tangled up in Hissy's web. The way it cocked its head and moved around, suggested a certain level of intelligence. The rare bird was taking in the facts of the situation and deciding on a course of action.

The raven which was much larger than the two they had already caught, jumped onto the ground while looking around from side to side, checking for danger. Anika and her companions stayed put, hoping that they wouldn't get spotted and that the bird would get itself tangled in the web. This was not to be. By now the raven was well aware of the trap. It didn't make any attempt at freeing the other birds. Instead, it walked to the side of the trap and found that it could reach underneath the webbing with its beak and then tugged at the carcass, dragging it out from underneath the trap.

A few seconds more like this and the raven could pull the carcass clear of the trap and either take off with it in its claws or at least grab a sizeable chunk and make a getaway. Anika knew she had to do something, but from where they were, there was no chance of getting to the raven without startling it. Hissy looked at her and made that awful sound again. Her little teeth were drooling with venom, she was up for a fight with this raven. To Anika, there just didn't seem to be a solution. Out of the three of them, it was most likely that Hissy could get close without being noticed, so she commanded the spider to get close and to see what it could do. She tried adding that under no circumstances must the raven get bitten, but she had no idea if the spider would heed her request.

Almost as soon as Anika had decided and given the command, Hissy was off. A slow and cautious skittle at first, then faster until it was about ten feet away from the raven and their trap. The raven had now spotted Hissy and had let go of the carcass. When it looked as if the raven was getting ready to flee, Anika commanded Hissy to do something, anything to stop the raven from getting away.

Hissy, fast as lightning, shot towards the raven and shot out to strands of webbing that stuck straight to the wall above the raven. She then moved sideways two steps and repeated the process. Most likely in a panic, the raven flapped its wings and lifted itself in the air, straight into the web hissy was building. One wing got caught, but it was a big raven, and it didn't look like a couple of strands would prevent it from moving. Hissy continued the manoeuvre, each time shooting two strands above the raven, connecting with the wall and then moving along for a different angle.

To Anika, everything happened in slow motion. She and Beth were doing all they could do, which was to stand still where they were and watch the action. The entire thing took less than fifteen seconds, and by the time it was over, the raven had become so entangled in Hissy's web, that it eventually gave up and dangled in the wind like the other two. When the raven had been overcome, Anika heard Hissy's disgusting sound again and watched as she moved in for the kill, somewhat menacingly, at a slow pace. This could all go horribly wrong Anika thought to herself, if Hissy bites the raven, this would all have been for nothing.

"Don't touch the bird," Anika shouted as she ran towards them.

Hissy didn't listen at first, but when Anika got close, she seemed to catch on and moved to the side. Beth had now followed as well and was watching the action from a short distance.

Anika had to use a knife to get the rare bird free before she could get the collar around it. When she was done, and she felt that slight connection with her new companion, she told Hissy she could eat the two smaller birds. After that, Anika focused all her attention on her new raven.

She couldn't tell if it was male or female, but as she released its bonds and felt its feathers, she was struck by its beauty. The feathers were so black they seemed to swallow all light around them. They felt smooth and soft, silky even, and still stronger than anything she had felt as soft as that. The most astonishing thing about the bird was its eyes. Its large black eyes stared into hers, and she got a clear message. This was an intelligent bird, it was upset with her because it felt she had used a cheap trick, but it accepted its fate and communicated to her it would serve her, provided it could always fly freely. All of this happened in a second or two, but she felt an instant bond and connection with the animal. It felt as if she had been given a clear warning that if she were to put this bird in a cage, it would rather kill itself than continue living. At that moment she made a deal. If the raven would serve its purpose and help her with her quest, she would treat it with respect and let it have as much freedom as possible.

When Anika checked the stats of her new companion, she noticed that she now had a couple of interesting commands available. Apart from the usual directions or movement commands such as follow and attack, it looked like she could send the raven to scout. There was also a section which had a resemblance to her own talent tree and specialisations. There were no points available to spend, but at some point, she would be able to have the raven specialise in various attacks, and something more utility focused. One thing which caught her attention was an ability called A Flock of Crows. When activated, this ability would summon additional crows who would attack the desired target for up to one minute, before they would disperse. That was something that could come in handy. As for current abilities, the Scout ability could be upgraded so that Anika could see through the raven's eyes.

Anika named her new companion Loki. She was sure she had read something about Norse mythology and some ravens, but she couldn't put a finger on it. The only name that came to mind was Loki which as far as she remembered was the god of mischief. She wanted to name the bird sooner rather than later, and Loki had a nice ring to it.

She checked the map and saw they had quite a walk ahead of them, to get to the area marked for their final target. The wolves could be found north of windfall city, in a sector marked with a few trees and some rocky terrain. She checked her fatigue levels and decided to log out and proceed in the morning. Before logging out, she made a fire and sat in the ruins with her new companions after making sure they all had something to eat from the surrounding forest. One wild boar was enough to serve all of them.