Flashback An Actual Hunt

[Kars]

Riding out into the open plains was a blissful feeling. The web stretched forward and forth with it's dancing, shivering tendrils. It was so open, and Kars could just get lost among all the links.

Fellow riders galloped along side him, bows strapped to their backs and hair blowing in the breeze. All of them wore some type of green attire, signaling their clan allegiance.

This hunting party that was put together was actually Kars' first party, and he was really looking forward to taking down some prey. In the past, he had taken down quite a few things just being out with his father and some friends, but nothing like this. This was an actual group put together to bring in a large amount of game.

As they rode, Kars noted he wasn't the only beginner here. Within their ranks were at least four other first timers, waiting to experience their bows and arrows in a real hunt. The thought eased Kars. But, being the brash fellow that he is, he already supposed he was a better archer than the lot of them. Yes, there is no humility contained in this man, though perhaps he wouldn't outright admit it. It wouldn't matter, because had anyone challenged his arrow-slinging skills, he would be more than glad to demonstrate his fighting skills.

The sun was beginning to rise on the horizon, peaks of gold and yellow tendrils went about striking the coarse grass of the plains. As they turned and traced across the Web, Kar's strider responded to him at every small whim.

As the party turned and soared across the sea of grass, Kars relished in the feeling of the wind whipping around him. It softly kissed his face and played with his hair, and whispered to him tales of glory, in his ear. He was flying; and his strider was the wings. They weren't galloping on ground, but instead were gliding across it, like a buzzard on a turbulent wind. The thumps of all his fellow riders was a beautiful symphony orchestrated by raw masters, each new harmony completely different from any song played before.

Ahead, they all sensed a herd of some type. Kars knew the entire party could sense it, since they were all linked to the Web. As one, the group turned, and flashed off in that direction. Soon enough, a grazing herd of dear could be seen near a spindly stream. Once the deer noticed the Drykas hunters crest the ridge, they took off in hopes to escape.

But the Drykas horses were faster!

Now Kars was really feeling it. This was true exhilaration! The thrill of the hunt! Nothing could be better than this. As the hunting party closed in around the deer, they scattered in all directions, and each man's strider picked one deer to chase and went after it.

Kars found a slower looking deer, and urged his strider to follow.

[Kars]

It galloped powerfully in pursuit, responding to Kars' pressure on it's sides. As they surged forwards, Kars' recalled the advice he had been given for hunting;

Don't try to shoot it from a moving horse. Leave that to the experts. Just get as close as you can, have your bow and arrow ready, and then stop your strider. Take aim and fire. That's a sure way to do it, it's just not as fast or efficient.

Kars' so badly wanted to fire at it from his strider. He knew he could do it, he felt the confidence within him, urging him to pull up as close to the deer as he could.

In reckless abandon of the advice, Kars did so. His strider surged forwards, matching the deer's own speed. It turned and veered and twisted wildly, but Kars had it beat. He swung his bow off his shoulder, drew an arrow, and pulled the string taught.

It was apparent the deer was tiring. It had stopped it's veering, and it only tried maneuvers every once in a while. Kars had gotten pretty close now, the deer was only a few meters ahead of him. With the flank in his aim, Kars adjusted for its speed and let an arrow fly.

The arrow embedded into the deer's right back leg and it twisted and tumbled into the green grass. Kars circled around once more and lodged an arrow firmly in it's neck. The deer was dead.

[Kars]

He had done it!

Sure, he had killed many a deer prior to this moment, but not from horseback like he had just done! What a thrill! What a memory! His arrow was true and his aim was steady. He had been an unstoppable force to that deer, and now he could proudly bring it home to his family.

He hoped off his strider and crossed over to it. He wasn't going to skin it yet, but there was a few tings of this deer that he wanted now. The antlers. He procured a bonesaw from a yvas bag, and with a deft purpose, went to work on those antlers. after they had been taken off, he brought them back to his horse and strapped them to his yvas. They clicked and clacked around as they swayed in the wind.

Kars brought the deer to the top of a hill and had his strider wait there with it. He detected something else within the Web; a rabbit hutch. Rabbit's were a staple among the horse clan people, and Kars was really itching to bring some home.

Kars crept off through the green grass lands, keeping as low as could, and walking slowly and softly. As he crested a ridge, he pressed his chest against the ground and peered over the top. The Web was telling him the hutch should be right in a little dip at the bottom of the hill, beneath a bush. In anticipation, Kars removed three arrows from his quiver and laid them on the ground near him.

Behind him, a hunter whistled for his strider. They were likely about to start returning from the hunt.

In curiosity at the whistle, a rabbit peeked it's head out from beneath the bush. Kars silenced his breathing. The rabbit waddled out a bit, followed by another rabbit, which stayed near the hole. Kars slowly loaded and arrow, drew the string back, and then quickly raised on his knees and let the arrow fly at the rabbit near the hole.

He missed! The arrow thudded somewhere near the base of the bush. The rabbit that was farther out turned back towards the hutch. Quickly, Kars loaded another arrow and fired.

THUD!

The second one worked, and the more curious rabbit was pinned into the dirt by the arrow. Kars quivered his last arrow and then ran to retrieve his kills.

Another one! Two kills in one day! On his FIRST hunt! Kars was incredibly excited, this was more than he had hoped for. As he returned to his strider with the rabbit and his arrows, he couldn't help but feel proud that he had succeeded.

He loaded his kills onto the back of his strider and then took off back to Endrykas with the other hunters.

When the returned, it was there job to start the skinning and gutting. Kars observed his fellow beginners; one had taken down a few birds, one had taken down a few rabbits, another had killed a small deer, and the last one killed a young deer. As Kars unloaded his kills, he was met by approving nods and words of kindness from his fellow hunters.

"Saw you take that deer from your strider," One particularly seasoned hunter told him. "Warms me heart to see a young'un do that, it does."

Kars was swelling with pride. He plunged his knife into the deer's gut and cut it down length wise, pulling it open and allowing the warm, foul-smelling insides to fall into the open grass. He severed connections with them to the vital edible pieces, and then separated the cook-able parts from the offal. It didn't take too long, Kars had skinned and gutted a deer before. He then went about separating the deers hide from his meaty goodness, sliding the knife carefully underneath it and making sure not to scar the meat too much- but more importantly, not the pierce the hide. By separating it from around the neck and the inner thighs, he just had to peel it off then. It came off quite cleanly, with a few piece of skin and meet sticking to it, but pretty good all in all.

While most of the hunters would be bringing the meat to be butchered, Kars wasn't a hunter yet, and so this kill was all for himself. He figured he'd store some of the deer, dry most of the neck, back, and flank meats, and then eat the rabbit for himself today.

The rabbit he found much easier to skin, as it was a smaller entity. The precision of course had to increase, but it was not too time consuming at all. The rabbit fur would do really good to store and sell, along woth the deer pelt. That is, unless Kars wanted to try his hand at some crafting.

He separated the rabbit's guts from it body, but didn't do any butchering to the rabbit. He would just stick it on a spit and slow cook it over a fire that night.

Happy with his kills and the way the day went, Kars went about returning to his pavilion, taking with him the fruits of his labor.

[Khida]

Grade Hold

The events in this thread are definitely above Kars' current skill levels. Because of this, I cannot give any award for the thread.

• Kars has no Webbing skill. Although he is aware the Web exists, being a bonded Drykas, he has no ability to perceive it or be guided by it.
• As a novice rider and novice archer, Kars cannot fire an arrow from horseback, especially from a moving horse, and expect to hit anything accurately. He does not have the experience or skill to adjust for the horse's movements, the deer's movements, or his own movements in the yvas.
• Kars has no lores or skill for dressing and butchering deer or rabbits. Thus, you cannot remove the hide neatly and cleanly, nor does he necessarily know what is "cook-able" versus what is offal.

Please PM me to discuss these problems and how to address them.