[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221005/7d7c778891f3387ab231a2bbd26f2d1e.png[/img]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 667
[b]Level 9 Ganondorf:[/b] 17/90
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +1
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 18/90

[h3]The Midnight Walk - Alpine Climb[/h3][/center]

Moon Mountain. As Ganondorf understood it, this mountain marked the end of another leg of their trek through the Frozen Highlands. Their target remained the same - Baldur. And now, as Sandalphon had reported, the Seekers possessed the substance they needed to finally bring him to heel. And now the next step was to ascend this very mountain. A few of the Seekers were naturally able to fly up ahead. They would make a good scouting party, Ganondorf wagered.

A few of the more agile Seekers followed their ascent along the exterior of the mountain, and while Ganondorf was confident he could probably make a similar climb himself, he spotted something else that caught his eye instead - a cavern entrance. Intrigued by it, Ganondorf decided to try his luck with ascending the mountain through its interior paths.

[center][img]http://peak.wiki.gg/images/Alpine_caves.jpg[/img][/center]

Despite the safety from the wind outside, the interior caves were still smitten with bitter cold. Probably the first things that caught the warlord’s eyes were the many formations that looked to be made of raw ice. Even just going near them, he could feel dangerously cold temperatures that would certainly harm him if he touched them directly. And so he made a note to himself to avoid those ice formations. Nevertheless, the Gerudo began his exploration.

For the first chunk of his climb, Ganondorf was mostly focused on finding paths that led up. And that occasionally required him to navigate around the dangerous ice formations. And sometimes, he’d have to dodge occasional stalactites that would fall from the ceilings above. If it wasn’t one danger it was another one. Thankfully, his Bullet Jump made at least some of the required platforming much more doable than it otherwise would have been. But it was during the second chunk of his climb that something peculiar caught Ganondorf’s eye. He spotted what looked like pink particles, clearly magical in nature that appeared to be coming out of a dark recess tucked away in a corner of the cavern he was climbing through.

When he followed the particles, Ganondorf eventually found a [url=https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/peak-napberry-plant.jpg?quality=75&w=1024&resize=1024%2C576]peculiar-looking berry[/url] shaped like a purple crescent moon. It was a lone berry growing on a little sprout and was no-doubt the source of the pink particles. Ganondorf could sense that this berry was magical in nature, but he lacked the expertise or ability to properly identify it. Still, if there was one thing he had learned from his adoptive mothers, it was that magical plants often made for the most potent ingredients for a variety of uses. And so the Warlord plucked the moon-shaped berry from the sprout and pocketed it for later.

[center][hider=For Ganondorf]Napberry x1[/hider][/center]

After securing the berry, Ganondorf continued his climb through the Alpine’s interior. Sometime during the third leg of Ganondorf’s climb, he spotted something else that caught his eye. It wasn’t pink particles this time. Rather it was a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/palworld/images/9/9e/PW_paldium_fragment_rock.png/revision/latest?cb=20240120041359]small rock formation[/url] containing what looked like some kind of blue ore veins. Next to the rock was a fragment of what looked like a small crystal or diamond. That alone would have monetary value, and judging by the discarded pickaxes nearby, this blue ore was obviously useful or valuable to someone. His curiosity piqued, Ganondorf summoned his Moblins and had them use the discarded pickaxes to mine away at was left of the ore vein.

[center][hider=For Ganondorf]Paldium Fragments x15[/hider][/center]

Once the crystals were secured, Ganondorf dismissed the Moblins he summoned. He figured they wouldn’t be able to make this climb as well as he could, and he didn’t want anything to be dead weight. And so Ganondorf continued his climb solo. By this point he’d climbed a good distance up the Alpines. As such he began to keep an eye out for any of the other Seekers so he could regroup with them and put up some kind of base camp for the night.