The forest was mostly quiet around Nevin as he strode through the woods. His cloak was on, hood swung up over his head covering his dark red hair, staff slung into a holster on the back. Gripped loosely in his hands was his crossbow, a bolt knocked in place as he slipped between the trees. Dark eyes scanned the forest around him, searching for traces of an animal passing through recently.

He wasn't the best hunter - and he knew that Elthas had offered to join him, but this was something he had to do on his own. Maybe he could join Elthas on hunts another time, when he was just trying to gather some food perhaps. But not today, not with what he was planning on doing with the animals that he killed on this trip. The risk of the sharp-eyed Elf noticing what he was doing, and reacting negatively to it, was not something he wanted to have happen yet, not until he had built up an actual rapport with the Elf, one that could withstand the revelation of what he did, could do.

No, this trip was just for himself, and to see if his abilities were affected by a long journey. They hadn't been when he moved only a few leagues away to another town, but he had crossed a considerably larger distance to reach Stonevale, and for all he knew the rituals that had been performed on him had included a lock that stripped his powers away after he'd gone a certain distance from the site where the rituals were performed. That was… Unlikely, considering what his ‘family’ had wanted to achieve with the rituals, but for all he knew they'd messed something up.

But. But his hair was still dark red - the color of drying blood, and his skin below his neck was still covered in the raised crimson lines that ran over everything. No, if his powers had weakened or been lost, there was no outward sign of it. And that did not encourage Nevin in his faint hope that what had been done was fading.

In the distance, a branch cracked, and Nevin’s head swung in the direction of the sound. His grip tightened on the crossbow, bringing it up to his shoulder as he dropped down into a crouch. His feet carried him through the bushes as he crept along, peering through the morning haze in the trees as he searched for whatever had alerted him. Twice he had to maneuver carefully to avoid running his staff into something, though this action was something he was familiar with and it did not slow him down overly much.

There - a short distance away, a red fox was digging at a hole, trying to get something out of the ground. Likely a rabbit or a vole, burrowed away and trying to keep its distance from the hungry claws of the predator. Normally Nevin would have preferred to leave a fox alone - he liked the animals, and they were useful for scaring up other prey for him… But he was antsy about being in these woods for too long for now, the forest too new to him.

So up swung the crossbow, red eyes sighting in carefully. He didn't want to make it suffer if he could avoid it, so he would be going for one shot to kill it. Just before he loosed the bolt though, there was a hint of something brown on the edge of his vision, and Nevin twisted his head to see it better. A short distance away, behind the fox on one side, a rabbit was cautiously poking its head out of the ground. Nevin twisted his crossbow and aimed -

Twang

The sharp sound of the string snapping forward made the fox jump into the air and dart into the trees - and the rabbit tried to pull back into its burrow at the sudden sound, but it was too late. The bolt spiraled through the air and pierced the upper chest of the furry rodent, tugging it bodily out of its hole with the remaining force. The carcass skidded along the ground for a couple feet, and Nevin strode towards it, knocking another crossbow quarrel onto the stock before kneeling down. Out came his dagger and the vial case.

Time to test his fear, and his power. He both hoped it would work, and that it wouldn't - he could get by on real alchemy if it didn't, but if it did…. Well, either it did, or it didn't. Putting it off would change nothing.