Completed The Night Hunt

[Azira]

Season of Fall, Day 1, 513 AV It was past midnight. The moon was high in the sky and the stone of the Wind Tower now a brilliant red. The season had finally changed from summer to fall, an event that always caused great excitement in Wind Reach. Every resident would come out to see the Watchtower stone flare and celebrate the new season. Every resident except Azira. Azira wasn't one for the excitement that surrounded the changing of the seasons. She wasn't particularly good in social situations, especially ones as social as the season change. Instead, she preferred the quiet solitude of the forest, a place where she could spend the night in peace. It was somewhat of a tradition of hers to spend the night outside alone. Since she'd become a fully fledged hunter at 15, she'd spent every season change on a night hunt. It meant that she had to sleep outside for the night but she was well able to care for herself. Her teacher and fellow hunter, Si'iara had taught her much about surviving in the forest at night. Now she crept through the forest, her bow in hand and quiver slung across her back. Her backpack with her supplies was dangling off one shoulder, ready to be set down when she reached her hunting grounds. Azira had placed her braided hair into a bun so that it was out of the way, its decorative feathers stored safely in her pack. One thing that she certainly didn't need was for her hair to interfere with her shooting.

[Azira]

She moved quietly across the forest floor, only the occasional snapping twig betraying her presence. Years of practice meant that she could move stealthily, approaching her prey in silence before they could run away. It was a particularly useful skill when hunting rabbits. Their hearing was superb picking up the most minute sounds. One sound was enough to make them bolt and hitting a moving target, especially one so small and fast, was near impossible. Arrows were a commodity that she couldn’t afford to waste. Sure, she was able to make her own arrows if she needed to but it was very time consuming. Her days off were for relaxing, not for arrow making. Reaching a small clearing, Azira paused at its edge. By the light of the moon, she could make out the shapes of three rabbits grazing on the grass. Slowly and carefully, she took a few steps backwards and removed her backpack. Nestling it in the roots of a tree, she returned to her previous position, drawing an arrow from the quiver on her back as she did so. One of the rabbits looked up and froze. She froze too, not even daring to breathe. She didn't want to make any movement or sound that would alert it to her presence prematurely. After a few tense moments it resumed eating and she sighed with relief. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming herself for the hunt. A mantra taught to her by her mentor ran round and round her head: Notch, Draw, Shoot. She repeated it over and over again, her hands and body following the familiar actions. Her body turned and her feet moved apart as she nocked the arrow, one finger above and two below the arrow as she raised the bow. She drew it back feeling the tension build in the string as she steadied the bow against her body as she prepared the shot. Azira must have made a sound because the rabbit rose on its hind legs searching for a predator, readying itself to warn the others. It's now or never, she thought, releasing the arrow. The string hummed as the arrow flew away, crossing the short space in a few seconds. It hit the rabbit's head with a thunk and the creature crumpled. The other two ran before she could get another arrow off but one was better than none. Moving towards it with long strides, Azira picked it up by the ears and tugged the arrow out. It came out easily enough and she realised why when she saw the arrowhead was gone. She couldn't reuse it. She tossed the stick away and carried her rabbit back to her backpack, attaching it to the string there. She slung the pack, rabbit and all, back over her shoulder and continued onwards.

[Azira]

As Azira continued to move through the woods, she crouched low in places searching for signs of rabbit activity. She knew she was on the right track when she found small pellet like droppings on the forest floor. With this small success, she circled around until she found more activity with more droppings than before. Soon enough she found another clearing with rabbits, managing to shoot two in quick succession before they could run. She was good with a bow but she wasn't good enough to get off two consecutive successful shots. The second shot had been pure luck, one of the rabbits freezing in terror long enough for her to reload and fire. It had been a poor shot though, injuring it instead of killing it. She picked up the squirming rabbit and screamed at it, causing roosting birds in a nearby tree to take flight in terror. It had the desired result as the rabbit went rigid with fright and then went limp after a few seconds. People didn't tend to believe her when she said that a rabbit could die from fright. She'd learned the fact from another hunter but it was an impractical way of hunting, scaring away any nearby prey. Azira had only done it now because she didn't want to bash its skull in for fear of damaging the fur. She collected the other rabbit, attached the two to her pack and withdrew the dagger from her belt. She marked a nearby tree trunk with a crude rabbit symbol so that she'd know to search that area for rabbit warrens on her next hunt in daylight. That done, she set off uphill towards the more difficult terrain intending to check a squirrel pole she'd placed earlier. After that, she'd set off for a little rock alcove that she knew to retire for the night.

[Azira]

Azira trekked towards one of her squirrel hunting grounds. Earlier in the day, she had set up a squirrel pole stretching it across the gap between one tree and another in an area she knew saw a lot of squirrel activity. Squirrels were cautious when it came to new things in their territory but they were also naturally curious. Once they got over their initial hesitation, they would investigate it and when they did, they would strangle themselves in the wire nooses placed all over the pole. If she was lucky, many squirrels would have investigated it and predators wouldn't have shown too much interest in them. It turned out that it was her lucky day. She had caught nine and predators, probably birds judging by the marks on the carcasses, had only picked at two. It was not important what had been eating them. She detached the ruined squirrels and tossed them into the shadows of the trees before collecting the seven squirrels she'd snared. Adding them to the bundle of other animals she'd caught this evening, Azira found herself smiling. It had been a good night's hunting. It was an excellent start to the new season, hopefully suggesting that there was a good hunting ahead of her. The previous season had been difficult because unusual temperatures had interfered with the whole natural cycle. Maybe this season would be better and the weather would be more normal for the time of year. It wasn't too much to ask for, right? Returning her pack to her shoulder she began to trek uphill, heading out of the flatter valley and up the side of the mountain instead. The ground sloped upwards, becoming steeper and steeper. Oaks and elms gave way to firs as the earth became too shallow and rocky to support their deep roots. Azira began to pant with effort as she clambered up the slope, her kills and her pack weighing her down. She struggled upwards, almost crawling in her effort to reach her bed for the night. She was looking forward to lying down to sleep but she had to light a fire and skin and salt what she'd bagged. This night seemed as if it was never going to end.

[Azira]

Breathing heavily from exertion, Azira hauled herself into the alcove in the mountainside. A natural crevice, it widened into a large, comfortable space. She had no idea when it had opened but she’d found it two summers ago and had been using it ever since. It was large enough for a person to curl up and had a hole in the roof that acted as a natural chimney for a fire. By placing the fire away from the entrance, the smoke would go straight up and through the hole. It was a little smoky but if she slept with her head near the way in, she could get some fresh air. She squeezed into the space now, pushing her pack, bow and quiver through the gap first. Once inside, she removed her kills from the outside of her pack and laid them down. Using the light filtering through the entrance, she unpacked the tinder, kindling and fuel materials she’d collected earlier. Using dead grass as tinder, she piled it in the centre of a ring of stones she’d used for previous fires. She propped up twigs over it to make a cone shape and covered the whole thing in twisted bundles of grass. Moving one of the twigs aside, she used her flint and steel to create a spark. Striking the steel against the flint, she watched as the spark landed on the tinder causing the grass to glow orange. She blew on it and watched as the flame grew bigger and began to spread. She put the twig back into place and waited patiently for the fire to grow. After a few minutes, heat and light for rising from the pile and she had enough light to work. She grabbed a package of salt from her bag and placed it beside her. Grabbing a rabbit, she placed it face down on her lap and pulled her dagger from her belt. In one careful but practiced motion, Azira cut along its spine from its tail to its shoulders. She pulled the skin open and removed it from the animal. She made two piles, one for meat and one for skins and proceeded to skin the rest of her kills. When all the animals had been skinned, she picked up a stone and scraped the fat and flesh off each skin, leaving them beside her before moving onto the meat. Azira took the meat apart, separating good meat from offal. She washed it all with water from her water skin, dried it and rubbed salt into each piece. When each bit was thoroughly salted she left them on the folded skins beside the entrance so that they weren't too warm. Yawning, she rinsed her hands of blood and animal fat and curled up in her winter blanket from her pack. With her work done she could finally sleep. She'd be able to sell her wares at the market later in the day but she didn't need to think about that now, it could wait until she woke up. Using her arms as a pillow, she finally settled down for the night, not worrying that she'd be cold and stiff in the morning, and fell asleep.

[Harrier]

Skills	Amount
Weapon (shortbow)	1
Tracking	2
Trapping	2
Wilderness Survival	1
Skinning	3
Mountaineering	2

Lore

Si'iara's Mantra: Notch, Draw, Shoot

Shooting Rabbits in the night

Tracking: Rabbit Pellets

Hunting Technique: Terrifying Rabbits

Hunting Technique: Squirrel Pole

Firestarter: Grass for tinder

A great hunt for the stores!: 3 rabbits, 7 squirrels,

Additional Comments: This is one of the best hunting threads I've graded, Azira. Really great job detailing the various techniques that can be used in by a hunter.

(c) abstract