Around the curve of the tree, lying on its side was my prize in all its miniature glory, number one of ten such prizes to be had. In an effort to conserve time, I picked up the [Northern White Rabbit] and took a sturdy stick and ran it through. I didn't have a backpack or a bag or even a ring and rope… so a stick would serve as my rack.
It was all I had.
The quest required ten such [Northern White Rabbits] to feed the hungry villagers, which in itself was a simple task. Though finding ten such rabbits was proving to be quite the opposite in practice. In the end I continued to search throughout the forest until my feet were numbed and my hands shook like a beggar with a bell. I had run out of time, I had to place my helmet down and ring that bell even though I had only acquired four of the ten rabbits that I needed.
The North was truly desolate.
It was a depressing fact as the process was oft to repeat itself where one found little way in variation, but I had no such leisure to deviate and change my hunting locale.
I only had the forests.
There was nowhere else to hunt.
Yeah, this was what I chose for myself anyways.
I chose the hardest path because I had a belief… a secret, really. That secret was based entirely on intuition, but I believed in my intuition. Where lightning struck thrice at the top of the mountain on the third day of the third month, the top of the mountain some three-thousand and three-hundred feet above the sea where a stone anvil sits.
It was a secret I kept from all but myself. A discovery that was made by chance as I noticed the weather pattern differed ever so slightly from normal. And as I watched the lightning strikes rain down throughout the North on that stormy day I found one such strike peculiar. And then a second strike but a moment later. And then a third… where no one place had been struck twice in the entire day, that place had been struck three times. I immediately put off everything I was doing during the Alpha testing and scaled that mountain to appease my curiosity.
Now, I had bet my future on it.
Arriving back at the village and warming by the fireside, I continued to think over the plan I had construed months earlier. I needed to gather the necessary equipment in order to climb the death-trap of a mountain that sat some ten miles east of my current location. I would also need to build a home where I could establish a base.
These goals required certain items in order to be accomplished, items that could take some time to acquire. The most important items were clothing of the warmest variety followed by a woodcutting axe, a shovel, two small ice-axes, a rope with a grappling hook attached, extra rope, and a sturdy but flat bag to carry provisions.
Gathering such items in a short time frame would prove difficult, especially seeing as I would need at least two-hundred and sixty copper at the minimum to purchase the crafted goods. What I needed to do was increase my hunting time, or I would be woefully short.
Having sufficiently warmed by the fireside I made my way out into the wilderness once more. It was an annoyance to only be able to hunt for two hours before having to rest for an hour, only to find you have exactly one hour left of daylight. The rest of your gaming day, at least for beginners, was simply wasted. There just wasn't a whole lot you could do at night except maybe practice crafting or work on practical skills but, most players didn't have access to anything besides a bow and a knife.
Making my way out towards the forest with a fresh fox-fur cap on my head, I felt like the most stylish of male strippers as I frolicked through the snow. As I approached the western forest this time, where I had previously died to the wolves, I couldn't help but notice an ominous feeling surrounding the forest area.
It almost felt possessed.
Pulling out my bow and nocking an arrow, I stalked around the clustered forest line of the tall and thin pines. The brown and grayish pines were anywhere from 8" to 12" thick and stood a minimum of thirty feet tall but were so densely packed only a few feet from each other that I could hardly see past a dozen of them. The snow fall had picked up and with a steady wind blowing in my direction I hesitated to go forward.
Today was a good day to die, I guess.
Shaking my head as I threw caution to the wind, I entered into the forest.
After only a few minutes I could no longer see the village off in the distance or the open fields of snow. I could only see the trees. The saying that you could miss the forest for the trees was certainly in effect, as I could not see much of anything.
Continuing deeper into the forest I soon lost track of the sun as the canopy had become suddenly dense. Looking to the sky was my only way of maintaining direction and now that too had been taken from me. I stopped for a moment to mark a tree with my knife, I may not ever find the tree again but it was better than nothing.
As I walked through the shadow of the forest I soon found myself completely unaware of where I was going. The marked trees would provide somewhat of a path leading out but I could no longer see more than five feet ahead.
The snow had continued to fall even harder and with the uptick in wind and denial of sunlight I was at a complete loss. I could hardly see, I could hardly hear, and I was beyond freezing in my naked state of dress.
I needed to leave.
Immediately turning around I tried to find the trees that I had marked but was having no such luck. The last tree that was marked was only two or three steps away but was no longer visible. The forest around me had changed with the wind and snow and no longer looked the same.
I was lost.
Panic wanted to set in but I refused to let my mind do so. If panic was let through the door, all was lost. Searching in vain for the trees that had been marked without taking more than a few steps from my current location, I soon heard something familiar.
Snap.
Bewildered by the sudden sound I quickly looked around but could see nothing in my snow-filled vision.
Snap.
And again the same noise as before, just like when I was surrounded and killed the day prior. I set my bow along my shoulder and placed the arrow in my makeshift quiver of twigs and vine, then drew forth my [Crude Stone Knife] from the hem of my pants.
I wouldn't be caught unaware a second time.
Waiting in stillness as nature continued to bustle about before me with wind lashing and the trees furrowing above, while snow fall obscured my vision and occasionally crashed to the tree floor below.
I was waiting for that next branch.
Those specific sounds… those snaps that gave it away.
Glancing around with eyes darting left and right I continued to wait.
Minutes had passed as I begun to uncontrollably shake from the cold. The lack of movement had caused my body to cool even further as my circulation started to slow. I needed to move, but I had no idea as to where. Going further into the forest would only spell my doom and there was only a one-in-four chance that I would choose the right direction.
Then, there it was.
Without the audible snap I had become accustomed to, my nemesis had returned in abject silence. The [Young Northern Tundra Wolf] that had escaped me before… that same one that had stolen my fox.
That wolf with a wound on its nose.
The wolf's cold eyes met mine as it started to bare its fangs. With a low growl that became more menacing by the second, the wolf lowered its head as it prepared to attack.
Not to be caught off-guard, I took the initiative and lunged at the wolf with knife drawn and at the ready. The wolf leaped up to meet my attack and as bodies collided we found ourselves rolling in the snow attempting to gain positioning.
The wolf was back to its feet before me and quickly went for my throat, snapping its teeth as I barely swung my legs in time to knock it off balance. The wolf crashed to the snow floor and scrambled back to its feet in a flurry of movement.