158. Camping: Wiremu.

I kept the bear hide but sent the troll hide back with Tabitha. The troll hide would need more processing than I could do here. Modrica wanted a bear hide cloak. She just grunted at me dismissively when I asked about Težka and the hide from one of his parents. The hide and Težka’s coat were the same colour, so I think she wanted to blend in when riding him.

“Astrid,” I said when the others had left. “Modrica and I are going out to set some traps, and I will teach her the Riding Skill. We will be back for a late lunch.”

“Ah, what if something happens here?” she asked.

“Tāoke is going to stay here, as he is still recovering. If something happens he can’t handle, he will let me know, and we will come back. We won’t be far.”

She glanced at Taoke. I think she was nervous sharing a cave alone with a 9-metre-long Venom Serpent. She will have to get over it. I don’t think it helped when I tossed him a hunk of meat to swallow before I left. Regeneration makes you hungry. Težka nudged me, asking where his meat was, so I also tossed him a hunk. I wouldn’t want him to decide to take another finger or a hand. I am glad I am not responsible for feeding him. He is going to be worse than Oske.

The first thing I had to teach Modrica was how to sit correctly. She was all stiff and awkward and holding on too tightly. She had never ridden in her life. She would be too big for most horses, I suppose. After we had some practice circuits, I sent them off to ride while I set some traps. I started setting some around the camp as an early warning system, then went to set some to capture animals for on the Mercenary Guild List. Hunting for fun and profit. Tabitha would be proud of me.

That was a great week for me. Out hunting and trapping every day. A number of my traps got broken as the enhanced animals were stronger than normal, but I adapted and incorporated new materials into the traps. I finally levelled my Trapping Skill. That is getting harder to level. I also levelled Skinning, and the pelts were piling up along with various claws, teeth, feathers etc. We also had jars of blood and organs that Astrid kept fresh. When I first brought organs back to the camp, Astrid couldn’t understand how I planned to store them, as we had sent all our containers back to the city with the troll blood. I just created stone jars with Granite Manipulation and closed the stone over the top, sealing it. I guess Tabitha hadn’t told her about my affinity.

Astrid got bored. She started coming out with me. Her stealth was pathetic. I helped her with some basic Skills and sparred with her. She is not a fighter. She only developed her skills to get her out of trouble. She is a talented healer. I encouraged her to practice the mental Skills to enable her to bond. Her Mental Attribute is only second to her Spiritual ones, and the right bond would help keep her safe.

Modrica took most of the week to get the riding Skill. It is definitely not natural for her. I helped her with her affinity and to develop their bond. She was getting frustrated that she couldn’t get Težka to learn her Armoured Skin Skill, but it was probably because her Animal Bond was too low a level. They brought some carcasses home with them too. I skinned them, and Težka shared them with Tāoke. They feasted well.

The Canine Queens turned up. All of them. Skavt brought Oske through the mud pool area. Once he was on the hills, he was fine. Najprej and Drugič seemed fine after their ordeal and were keen to hunt. I think they were keen to look for enhanced bonds, like the Catkin and Modrica. Possibly even a monster kill. Ört and Kryddor had decided not to chance using the troll core. It was not a general plant affinity but a specific tree. The ritualist thought pine or spruce or something common in the area. Ört was definitely a herb man, so they backed away.

Tabitha didn’t come. Apparently, she was negotiating the purchase of an Inn. That will be a good use of our money and give me somewhere to stay when I return. I do plan to return.

We all decided to go hunting in the morning. We would all go, including Astrid. The pelts would be fine for a couple of days, although some of the older perishables would probably need to be thrown out. We will see if we can reach the volcano. I haven’t seen a live volcano before. The idea of being near lava might give me flashbacks to my fight with the lava dude near Jern.

The wildlife was very varied, and I had been trapping hares, squirrels, moles, otters and the occasional beaver. I was hunting a whole variety of deer, goats and big-horned sheep. There were several packs of wolves and coyotes. I had seen various cat species, including lynx, bobcat and cougar, as well as various bear species, Elk and Bison. Then there were the birds. As we moved up into the mountains, I expected more variation again, including species that thrived in the warmer areas alongside the mountain animals that adapted to the volcano.

Hunting for bonds is totally different to hunting to kill. Najprej and Drugič thought they might like wolf pups. I am sure they were trying to follow in the footsteps of their uncle Koza and his Dire wolf bond. That may be entirely appropriate, but I told them they should be open to other options as well. Skavt and Oske were prime examples of that. Astrid had no idea what might interest her.

All the animals stayed away from us, being such a large group and having some large intimidating bonds. Ört and I, with our bonds, went scouting. Kryddor disturbed a family of wild pigs and herded them into the group. We will be eating pork rather than forming bonds. I found some Raven chicks, but nobody was keen. We need to hunt some wolves because until Najprej and Drugič try to bond with them, they won’t really try anything else.

I found wolf tracks just before we camped for the night. Ört and I went to scout them while the others set up camp. I figured we were about halfway to the volcano, so tomorrow evening. We should arrive. We will probably spend a day looking around before heading back.

We found them just before midnight. I was a very large pack with close to thirty wolves. There was a huge male and two huge females that stood out and were at the top of their hierarchy. They may have even been monsters, but I couldn’t tell from this distance. Taking on a pack of this size would be disastrous. We would definitely end with major injuries in the best-case scenarios. No, we will either divide and conquer a few, or better yet, use my speciality and trap some.

I set about making traps that wouldn’t kill while Ört, Kryddor and Tāoke hunted the bait. I ended up making five before dawn as we baited them with a hare and cut a deer into quarters for the others. I used Granite Manipulation to make the traps, and that was hard. Carving out a small cave and making a gate that would drop was the easiest way, and my Garanite Manipulation was pushed through to Journeyman Level. Granite Wall went up a level as well to make the gates.

We left the traps and headed back to the camp after a long night. The others were up and ready to go, so after breakfast, we got back on the trail to the Volcano. We would check the traps on the way back. I dosed sitting behind Modrica on Težka for most of the morning, and Ört did the same on Oske. Skavt took over the scouting.

We came to the base of the volcano late that afternoon and set up camp just before the vegetation ended and the burned rock started.