[center][h2]Geralt of Rivia [/h2] Frozen Highlands- The Midnight Walk Lvl 15 Geralt (255/140) -> (258/140) 280% OL Charged (Lvl 1) Word count: 1,252 words [/center] As the stagecoach trundled on, Geralt’s stamina recovered remarkably well. It wasn’t long before he was just about fully recovered from his exhaustion from the fight with Markiona. “Going to go on a hunt, stretch my legs, if we’re lucky, find some meat.” He told the others as he hopped down from their transport. Confirming that his equipment was all in good shape, he took note of the stagecoach’s trajectory and committed it to memory, turning about forty-five degrees from its path of travel and setting off at a decent jog that, to a normal human, would be a dead sprint. After a few minutes he slowed his pace, content that he’d be ahead of the stagecoach by a good distance, and started searching for signs of wildlife that he could hunt, or have Tirn fight. The latter would require a solo subject of likely lesser power, though he could always heal his Shieldon if things started to get hairy, or intervene himself. After passing a few groups of animals and Pals, he encountered a lone Chillet, skulking through the field in search of food. He took a good look around to make sure it was truly alone, and once he was confident it was, he drew his hand crossbow and fired a bolt, striking the Pal and sending it into a Gleaming fury. As it turned to charge him, Geralt withdrew Tirn’s ball and sent out the Shieldon. “Tirn, iron defense!” The Shieldon took a sturdy stance, its body gleaming like a polished blade as the Chillet began to gather strength and launched itself forward to attack. It slammed into Tirn, but between the Pokemon’s steel typing and its defensive buffs, the attack did little. “Now, take down!” Without a moment’s hesitation, the Shieldon threw itself forward and crashed into the frozen ferret, knocking it back with a visible look of pain. Undeterred and unable to retreat, it fired back with a blast of draconic energy, which crashed into Tirn before he could react. The special attack avoided both the Shieldon’s enhanced defense as well as its buff, but the Pokemon’s typing still protected it from the worst of the damage. “Alright, try a swagger, confuse it!” Geralt called, and Tirn chirped in response. Doing a mocking little dance and taunting the Chillet, Tirn succeeded in enraging the creature, which promptly attempted to attack and failed, harming itself greatly in the process. The Chillet was starting to look a little worn down, so Geralt had Tirn attack again with Take Down, getting close to the Pal himself and drawing his knife. As the Shieldon struck its target, Geralt joined in, slicing a few tufts of fur from its body as the Pal wobbled and collapsed, defeated. After a moment, it began dissolving into ash, leaving behind its Spirit which Geralt collected. Taking a moment to heal Tirn and check on the Pokemon, Geralt gave him a scratch on the top of its plated head, earning a happy chirping from the Shieldon. “Alright, let’s get going.” He told his companion, leaving Tirn out of its ball so he could also stretch his legs. They crept along through the field, using rocks and snowdrifts as cover from potential prey. The next target that Geralt chose was a strange one, covered in wrinkled skin with coarse whiskers around its face, which had a trio of great tusks protruding outward from it. Its body was squat but long, much like a four-legged animal, though its limbs were clearly meant for traversing the water. “Think they said you don’t want to be hit by water. Sorry, Tirn.” Geralt consoled his Pokemon, returning the Shieldon to his ball. Finding a clear vantage point and drawing Oddysseus’s Bow, Geralt carefully studied the beast, trying to map its body with what he knew of both sea and land life. If a creature so obviously adapted for the water could also walk upon the land, albeit awkwardly with its fins and tail, it stood to reason that its internal organs would have to support breathing air. Whether its lungs, or whatever equivalent it might have, would be located in the same area was another matter entirely, but he only had so much to go on. Waiting a few minutes while the horker shuffled around and found a good spot to bask, Geralt nocked an arrow and lined his shot up, aiming for near the ‘armpit’ of the walrus-like creature. He could tell that it had rather thick skin, but hoped that the bow would manage to pierce through it nonetheless. Loosing the arrow, Geralt bit back a curse as the horker began bellowing and turned to where the arrow had come from, rushing forward in a surprising display of speed. Stowing the bow, he drew his steel sword and ran forward to meet the beast head-on, casting Quen on himself. Those tusks looked nasty, though he was certain he could handle it. As the pair came upon one another, the horker lunged forwards to gore Geralt with its tusks, who sidestepped and pivoted, carving a deep furrow into its neck with his sword before launching a step kick into its head, earning another bellow of pain. It lunged again, swinging its head side to side, and Geralt wasted no time in taking advantage of the opening. His sword sliced across the thrashing face, using its own momentum against it to carve even deeper into its flesh. From there, he quickly hopped towards the back of the creature, cutting into it and weakening the horker enough that it collapsed, defeated and dying. It roared at him in pain, Glaeem’s curse finally broken and allowing it to control itself once more, any ability to fight, or even move, removed as it bled out on the ice. Sighing, Geralt drew his hand crossbow and put the poor creature out of its misery, taking its Spirit and heading back to the stagecoach, his mood rather spoiled by the bloody and unpleasant kill. He never took [i]pleasure[/i] from hunting aside from satisfaction at a job done well, but that was simply a miserable experience. Following the trajectory he recalled, he was able to return around the time the stagecoach was changing course to evade the Bloons and Monkeys, which earned a confused look before he shrugged and climbed back aboard. “Didn’t get too much before I figured I’d need to get back, but I did take down a few creatures.” He took the offered berries from Roxas, thanking the Nobody but deciding to wait until they were well and truly clear from the Bloons battlefield to bring the Shieldon out and feed him. After Tirn was fed and happy, he pulled out the two Spirits he’d collected and crushed them. [center][hider=Items Obtained][b][url=https://i.imgur.com/XS7tWbn.png]Ice Organ[/url][/b] x2 Material obtainable from Ice Pals. Usable in various technologies, structures, and equipments that require a source of cold or ice energy [b][url=https://i.imgur.com/GM0Qo17.png]Horker Meat[/url][/b] x4 Heavy, dense, fatty meat. Can be cookled into Horker Loaf using salt, Horker Stew using lavendar, garlic, and tomato, or Horker and Yam Stew using garlic and yam[/hider][/center] The strange, condensed orb of ice energy was entirely foreign to him, and he showed it to the others to see if they had any ideas for how they could use it, whereas the meat was much more obviously useful. “Could definitely make that stew a lot heartier for a couple days. Could send some back to the Avenger, as well, help them out, though it’s not too much.”