Open A Hunting We Will Go

[Viridae Kabre]

Viridae was overtaken by panic for only a moment, but regained his composure and willed his mind to think. He was under a bear. He was loosing the pelt. His shoulder was being shooken and he could feel a slow drop of liquid making its way into his armpit, still unsure rather it was saliva or blood.

With his knee he pushed the carcass up just far enough to retreive his hunting knife from hish thigh, and plunged it three inches into the attacking wolf's skull. It yowled in pain, but its skull had eaten most of the force of the blow, and the knife flapped slightly in between its eyes. He squirmed so as to have his feet near the beast's head, and kicked it hard between the eyes, directly on the blade's worn leather handle. The dagger sank in and the wolf yelped in pain, snapping for his foot. As it lunged, he kicked again, the combined force enough to sink the blade into a soft point in the skull. The wolf fell to its side and convulsed heavily before growing eerily still. The seccond wolf, still trying to tear through the bear, crawled through the small opening Viridae had created and squirmed to get closer to him, snarling as it did so.

Viridae wriggled free of the carcas on the opposite side, and fell to his knees as the remaining wolf's lower half scratched on the ground in an attempt to get itself under the bear. He circled to it and placed his boot on the carcass, forcing the wolf beneather into the ground. It scratched more franticlly, whining now, tail flapping from left to right. Viridae pulled and arrow from the seath, and grasped it in both hands over his head. He stabbed the wolf as high up on its spine as he could, and the arrow was burried deep within its flesh.

The beast thrashed frantically now and was almost out from beneath the bear with the exception on its head. Viridae picked up a large river stone and bashed it close to the arrow three times. On the third strike, the beast was still, and collapsed what weight it was holding on its hind legs. Viridae sunk to his knees and unbuckled his shoulder guard, Carefull not to irritate the large bloody bite beneath.

[Laute]

Laute watched impassively as Viridae killed the last of the wolves.

Or second last. In the corner of his eye, Laute noticed a wolf struggling to crawl away and recalled the wolf he had dropped earlier. Slowly, for the wolf was going nowhere, he approached the injured beast. His blood dripped to the ground, mingling with its own bloody trail. Laute was tired now, his muscles sore and bruised. There was an ache where the injuries were and he was not looking forward to dealing with them.

Reaching the wolf, he swiftly knelt and slit its throat. It struggled for a moment, trying to get its jaws to clamp on something, trying to get its limbs to respond and move. But the fall had proved to be too much and it finally rested its head down.

Flicking his knife clean, he turned to his hunting companion. "Injured?" he asked, looking for signs of broken bones as he approached. A bear had collapsed on top of Viridae, however awkwardly, and that was bound to have at least bruised something. Especially a slight Symenestra.

Heeding his own injuries, Laute raised his bloody arm to his head, licking some of the blood away from the wound. The stream was nearby, behind Viridae, and Laute wrinkled his nose slightly before entering it. Sharp stings peppered his body as the water cleaned the bites and scratches on his legs. In front of him, the blood dissipated into the current.

[Viridae Kabre]

"Only a little," He replied, running a careful finger up his bleeding forearm. He began to remove layers of armor, tossing them to the ground, before staggering to the stream and laying on his back at its bank. he let his upper body float its surface and kept his legs on the bank, feeling the cold water rush around his body.

Vaguely he remembered his mother saying something to his father about cold reducing swelling, but he could hardly remember, and was far too focused on the waves of relief brought on by the steady current.

"How are we hauling the game back?" He said a bit quieter than he intended to Laute. "The distance isn't far, and I think I can make it, but there's no way I could carry more than three wolves. The bear could be dragged possibly..."

He trailed off as the over head sun warmed his face, glinting life and energy into his body. Admittedly, Viridae hadn't been this injured on a hunt in a great while, but he also would not have attempted such a dangerous feat alone, and was thankful Laute was there.

"Laute, I'd be dead had I been alone," He muttered as his wounds began to numb from the cold.

[Laute]

"Me too," Laute responded before finally submerging the rest of his body into the cold water. His arm hurt the most, though he would never admit it. More than one wolf had attacked it and he would have to improve his battle techniques.

He should never let himself get into such a position again. While he could have easily flown away had the fighting got too much, it was a matter of pride. It was a matter of skill. Both of which he lacked, particularly in a group hunt. He had never attacked so many beasts at once before, at least not with just one other party.

Looking over at Viridae, he wondered if the Symenestra had carried any bandages or something to staunch the bleeding in his arm. While the wound was not that serious, the wound would need a little time to close itself off.

He could feel the sun as he rose out of the water, heading toward his partner. Dawn, already? They had spent more time on the hunt than he expected, and it was time to head back to the cave. While the warmth was soothing in comparison to the cold water, the light was not.

"I can fly the wolves back, one at a time." He would have tried two, but he wasn't sure if his injured arm could handle it. Laute grimaced at his right arm, irritated. It would have been better if his leg had been injured than his arm. "The bear..." He looked at the dead bear. A massive beast, its weight was more than either one could handle. But together...

Together they could manage. He just needed a place to leave the wolves when he flew them back.

Laute looked down, surprised by the confession. The words were unnecessary, the truth too obvious. "Obviously," he bluntly responded. Was there another reason for those words? Over the blood he could smell a hint of fear, of relief. Shock, maybe. Near-death experiences had strange effects on others.

Nimis...he could remember his own reaction to that hunt and softened slightly. "Me as well." He looked at his arm and sat down beside Viridae. "Do you have bandages?"

[Viridae Kabre]

The corner of Viridae's mouth peaked as he smirked at Laute. "I was showing you gratitude. Well deserved gratitude at that. Biggest haul I've ever had between two people. Nothing gets the blood pumping like a pack of angry beasts trying to rip out your neck."

He considered his wounds for a moment, then instantly thought back to storing the game in a safe place. Then back to wounds. They would both be useless if this bleeding wasn't stopped.

"Silk. In my Rucksack," He said as he pointed a clawed finger to the belt sack he had thrown to the ground with his armor. "Make sure the wound is dry before you bandage it. I don't know much about medicine, but I've never seen a dressing used on a wet wound."

After wrapping his and Laute's wounds tightly in silk, Viridae reluctantly pulled his gear back on, before rounding the wolves up near the bear carcass. He began to build a fire.

"For now, we'll need to stow the bodies. Rubbing them down in ash would mask the scent, for there they need to go high up into a tree. Shouldn't take long, seeing as though you can fly," He said with another tired smile as the flames flared up.

[Laute]

The silk was tight around his arm and legs, far sturdier than he had expected from the substance. Softer too. The material was foreign to him, as was the sensation it left on his skin. There was a cool smoothness to it. Effectively, it had also stopped the blood. When they returned, he'd have to examine the silk further.

For now, he turned to watch Viridae build the fire. The sun was slowly filtering in and Laute hissed softly. It was bearable for now, though he had to resist the urge to fly back to the caves. Patience was needed now. As soon as the kill was stashed safely, he'd be able to return to the welcoming dark.

For now, he just had to tolerate the light from above.

As the flames slowly grew behind him, Laute helped carry the remaining wolf carcasses to the fire. Examining their pelts in the light, he could see most of them were undamaged. At least majorly. Good. He wanted to keep a pelt for himself, a striking mix of silver and grey.

It would take some time before the logs were burned and the ash cool enough to touch. Laute spent that time examining the trees near them, looking for the more inaccessible ones to store the wolves. Consider the height of the trees and the weight of the wolves, he could store two, maybe three on the top layer of branches.

The bear, on the other hand, did not have that option. It was huge and awkward, not to mention heavy. Let alone finding a tree that could support it, Laute doubted he could carry the beast up in the first place.

He might be strong, but that was an adult bear. It might be better to just drag that one back.

"The bear." Laute alighted near the fire Viridae was tending. "I doubt I can carry it alone."

[Viridae Kabre]

"I agree," He said, nodding as he added nearby dry driftwood logs to the fire. "We'll skin the wolves and store the meat. Wolf meat is of little concern to me but I can have the pelts tanned. You may take your pick, I only need one pelt and the bones as trophy."

As the fire grew, Viridae began to skin the wolves, inserting the hooked tip of his hunting knife into their soft bellies and making an incision running the length of their bodies. When it was done, he'd pull the pelt from the skin beneath, careful to keep the cut straight And neat.

He ground out the now blazing fire and rolled the carcasses in ash, before trudging a short distance to the nearby woodline in search of moss. Viridae covered the bodies in the moss and wrapped a thin layer of the remaining silk around them to hold it in place.

"They are ready," he said, wiping a glob of ash and sweat from his brow and adjusting his silver braid. "Its best we get the bear back before dark. Otherwise the larger predators coming from the mountains to hunt could pose a problem."

[Poison]

Viridae Kabre
Skills: Observation 3; Tracking 3; Teaching 2; Hunting 5; Stealth 1; Bow 4; Brawling 1; Knife 1; Medicine 1; Skinning 1
Lores: Working as a Hunting Guide; Acquaintance: Laute; Masking One’s Scent; Recognizing Bear Tracks; Recognizing Wolf Tracks; Hunting Bears; Hunting Wolves; Stabbing a Wolf with an Arrow; Killing a Wolf with a Stone; Hunting with a Zith; Being saved by Laute; Cold reduces Swelling

Laute:
Skills: Observation 4; Tracking 2; Hunting 5; Brawling 2; Dagger 2
Lores: Acquaintance: Viridae Kabre; Recognizing Bear Tracks; Recognizing Wolf Tracks; Hunting Bears; Hunting Wolves; Providing a Distraction; Breaking a Wolf’sLegs; Hunting with a Symenestra; Saving Viridae; Killing a Wolf

Notes: I really enjoyed your thread! You both get 5 XP in Hunting. Laute gets 4 XP in Observation because he was watching things from above while Viridae gets more Tracking XP as he was actually tracking things on the ground.

Laute, I was a bit confused because you had a dagger in one post, and then you were suddenly holding a knife. Was it a mistake or were you carrying and using both weapons? Please let me know so that I can edit this post if it is necessary.

Viridae, I checked your CS and while you had Lores for killing wolves and bears, you didn’t have lores for hunting them yet. So I gave you such lores even though they are a little similar. I hope you don’t mind.

It was a rather long thread so it’s possible that I missed a skill somewhere. If this is the case, please let me know!

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