Placeholder Hunting is Trouble (Solo)

[Ramona Silvertongue]

Ramona

1st of Fall 517av

Summer was a hard-working season. Ramona was doing her best to keep up with the rest of the world. The scarce amount of resources in the middle of the season really affected the hunting season. Ramona was lucky to score a few good decent games with what she had caught last season. Now, as Fall was rolling around the corner, Ramona needed to step up her game.

Today was surprisingly warm, and slightly muggy. A cloudy and grey overcast warped the horizon, and the valleys were quiet without the deer and other animals that occasionally traveled them.

When winter didn't happen last year, there was a big drought in the Cyphrus region. It bothered Ramona greatly, and she wished that she could do something about it. It was disturbing to see how much the Drykas lifestyle depended on the nature, and everything that made up life, and just one mishap could mess up the schedule of everything else.

There was a woman who rode on horseback, heading to the West. This woman was not just any woman, she was a Drykas, and she was filled with Drykas pride and determination. She wanted nothing more than to become a Watchman, but she needs to work on her skills in order to be one. She was still a little too weak, and she didn't really know if her fists were good enough for a main combat weapon. Her shortbow skills were good where they were. She's been hunting almost every day.

Ramona had her shortbow with her today, and her quiver full of thirty eight arrows. She would have had forty, but her other two had been damaged and were irreparable. So, out of fear she decided to buy an extra inexpensive set of shortbow arrows. She was happy about the price, but she had hoped that they would last her as long as they need to.

Anthem, her Strider that Ramona had bonded to many years ago nickered and listened intently to the surrounding noises. There were a few flocks of birds flying further West than normal, they were too high for Ramona and her shortbow. She wouldn't be able to reach them with her arrows. Ramona patted his mane, and wondered what was wrong.

Though, it was at that moment in time she heard it too. The sound of an animals' howl. One thing for sure, was that it didn't sound welcoming, and a chorus of a few other animals were howling too. Ramona counted the different howls, and she measured the total to be nearly five. She wasn't sure if they were close, or if they were quite distant and further away from Ramona as they could be.

The Drykas weren't the only people, or animals who had suffered from the droughts and the lack of winter from last year. The wild animals outside of Endrykas were hungry too, and rumors said that they were a few kids who were taken and eaten too. The councils blamed it on the wolves, but Ramona wasn't so sure about that. Drykas wouldn't let their children get taken, but it was possible.

One thing for sure, Ramona needed to get away from those wolves, if they truly were wolves.The howls were what threw Ramona off...

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Template layout courtesy of Prophet, and big thanks to him for letting me use his layout.

[Ramona Silvertongue]

Ramona

As Ramona and Anthem neared the lake West of Endrykas.
The huntress couldn't believe her eyes, and she wished that she wasn't right about the lack of winter harming the earth of Mizahar. She wanted everything to go back to the way before. Before when everything was okay, and there were not any Zith that pledged to demolish the Drykas numbers, or take them as slaves. Ramona fought her tears very hard, it was a challenge. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Though, she must continue. There was no time to back out, there was the forest ahead of her towards her right side. She could stop to refinish her waterskin; it would only takr her a few chimes at the least. Anthem could use some water too, it seemed to be awhile every now and then when Anthem had something to drink.Though, Ramona would not mind, she could take a few chimes of a break and make it to her snares soon.

It was a good thing that Anthem had steered her away from those wolves, otherwise Ramona would be dead. She needed to be as far away as possible. She couldn't defend herself from a whole pack, and Anthem wasn't much of a fighter. He wasn't stubborn either, and that was why Ramona loved him. He took care of her when there was no one else around. If Ramona had troubles, she would go to him for comfort; she wasn't sure if it was the bond that brought her closer to him, but she did not care. Anthem was always there for her no matter what.

Ramona ignored the faint howling of the wolves, they were quite distant from the lake, but Ramona was sure they would be thirsty soon too.

"It's time for us to go boy."Ramona said as she capped up her waterskin and remounted Anthem once more.

He nickered and neighed in response, as if saying to Ramona. "I would love to get out of here," and he started to canter towards the forest. The ride wasn't very smooth, there were a ton of bumps and tons of bouncing. Ramona didn't mind the bouncing, on the other hand, it would've been worse if she was a novice rider. It was a good thing it took years for her and her father to train her on horseback.

Ramona patted Anthem as a reward for getting her here safely without the wolves chasing them. She prayed to Caiyha, and Syna that light and food will be there for her. She wanted the game, rabbits would do her quite fine, and she hoped she would catch something this time around.

"Stay here Anthem. I don't want anything happening to you. If something happens you can run back to Endrykas, to the Watch."Ramona advised and grabbed her shortbow off the Yvas and her quiver, and started walking into the forest of trouble.

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Template layout courtesy of Prophet, and big thanks to him for letting me use his layout.

[Ramona Silvertongue]

Walking into the forest alone was probably the worst idea that Ramona had ever had in her life. Sure, occasionally she hunted by the lakes, or the rivers when she hadn't set her snares. Though, there was a small forest area by the river towards the West of Endrykas. Ramona didn't really know each and every hunting tip in the book, but she knew some of the basics; and that wasn't even enough for an average hunting expedition.

She trekked through the small forest area carefully. She hated the forest, sometimes it brought trouble, and she heard stories of what happened to hunter who walked alone. It was even dumber to walk alone during this time of the year, when Fall was supposed to be rolling around the corner. When Winter didn't happen last year, the animals during the Summer season had become really angst and eager to get their grubby paws on some prey. Now, Ramona was alone and she had to be extremely careful, she had no idea what could be dwelling within the forest. She did know that a few members of the preyed lived in a forest and that was pretty much it.

She knew how to use a bow, and she knew how to use her fists, but there was still a lot in this world that Ramona didn't know about. She wanted to learn it all, and it would be a good thing to do so, but right now daydreaming wouldn't be the best thing when you're hunting alone. Ramona's heart was racing as she heard the sounds of the cicadas chirping away in the forest. Bees were buzzing,
and other insects were humming. It was enchanting, although Ramona needed to find her snares that had been set up a couple of days prior. She should have had remembered where they were. The thing was, her footprints from the other day had been dried and for the most part had combined with the rest of the dirt. It was either that, or Ramona wasn't
as good of a tracker as she thought she was.

She adjusted her grip on her shortbow and searched around an oddly familiar bush that she had recognized was weird the bush was trimmed and that same part of the bush that was trimmed didn't have the rest of the hedge along with it. The twigs were missing, and it pretty much looked like disfigured arms pointing outwards and Ramona followed the 'arms' up and found her snares tied from a thick branch. Oh, she squealed with excitement, but forgot that she had to be quiet.

She snuck around the bush carefully, though it wasn't doing her any good since her boots were crunching the leaves beneath her and she frowned.

Like I would ever be quiet. Ramona thought to herself as she inched closer to her snare. She clasped onto it, and traced the snare all the way down and crouched to the ground to get a better look at what she caught. Or in this case, what she thought she caught, or even wanted to catch. This time it was nothing, and that seemed to her that it was a bad sign. Though, she felt the snare at the bottom, and it was wet. Her hands were coated with a heavy scent of blood, she knew the smell of blood all too well. The times of her hunting had taught her much, and the time when she had to skin the deer in front of Hansel. It was sickening.There was a trail that was soaked with bloody paw prints. Where there were paw prints, there would be another animal. Perhaps Ramona could find it?

Word Count:

1642/2500

[Ramona Silvertongue]

Day, Season, Year.

Ramona sighed. "Where in the world would I find that predator who petching stole my prey?" Ramona stood up from crouching, she cracked her back and switched hands with her short bow and let the wind cast all over her hand. "That feels better." She also did a few exercises with her left hand before moving the short bow back into her dominant hand. The arrow that Ramona mounted onto the short bow was still resting on top of the shaft of the bow, and Ramona observed her surroundings once more before deciding to return to the edge of the forest.

It was then when she heard the sounds of an animal's whimper. Her ears perked up, and excitement rushed into her. She followed the sounds, she turned left through the woods, and then another right. She jumped on top of stones through a small stream, she slipped, but she recovered. The water was chilling, but it had refreshed her. It was another asset that aided her to find the predator who stole her prey. Now, that predator will die. Or at least, Ramona would try to kill, she'll probably injure it however she could.

Maybe she was thinking about this a little too much? Another sigh.

The whimpering ceased, at least for now. Though, there was a loud yipping sound when Ramona inched closer to what seemed like a possible clearing.
Ramona peered through the thick trees as best she could, and noticed something strange. Though quite fortunate.

There was a fox!

It was perfect. Ramona could finally catch something. Also there was a half eaten rabbit. Though the fox seemed to be trapped under a fallen tree branch. It was opposite from Ramona. She readied her short bow and aimed as careful as she could. This was naturally at least thirty-five feet away. Or at least Ramona thought it was. It was farther than the normal distance that she would usually practice with when she went to train at the Warstorm Pavilion. For sure, she could possibly hit it? Maybe? Maybe not/ She didn't know.

Sweaty hands gripped the shaft of the short bow as she walked closer into the clearing to get a clear shot. Shaky breaths followed suit as she aimed.
Though, she had remembered from her father that she needed to be calm while shooting. She could mess up her shot if her nerves have gotten the best of her. She didn't know how to calculate her shot from the direction of the wind very well. Though, she was facing East, with the sun. As it faced her, Syna's light was shining a little too much for Ramona, and it affected her ability to shoot as well.

She took another breath. What if she missed? How would the fox react?
Well... it was stuck under a fallen tree branch. It can't really run away. At least not when it was struggling to free itself.

She aimed.

She took another breath, and as she squinted to block the light from the sun she needed to figure out something quick if she didn't hit the animal.

she fired. The arrow whizzed through the clearing, and she managed to get the arch just right to catch that distance, but it didn't even hit the fox. It was too much, the fox twisted his head around to see where the arrow had come from, and it howled in angst as it was struggling to get up. It was pushing the branch, and Ramona needed to act quick.

She readied another arrow. She aimed again. She fired. The arrow hit the branch that was just above the foxes head. It whimpered. Did it hit the fox? Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully it had. She would've been happy if it had. Though, as it was obvious she didn't kill the fox as it was still struggling. However, maybe Ramona had scrapped the fox? She rushed over, and stayed about ten feet from the fox so that it couldn't snap its jaws at her.

She aimed at the struggling animal which was now whimpering as it looked up to Ramona. She felt bad that this was how the fox was going to die, but she did pray to Dira that the fox's soul would be safe with her.

She fired the second arrow. The fox whined as it's head dropped to the ground. The tail of the arrow was pointing outwards, the orange fir on the fox's head was starting to get dotted with blood. The heavy tree branch had fallen completely on top of the animal and was crushing its bones. For a tree branch they was heavy for the fox or wasn't really all that heavy for Ramona. She pushed the bench over and it rolled across the soil with a thump. Ramona tied up the fox and headed back to Anthem.

The huntress tied the dead fox with some rope that she had purchased earlier in the year, and it was working quite well. She hoped that the meat would be good, and cooking worthy to make at least a pound or so of it. Ramona hadn't had fox meat in awhile, so she was excited to taste it.

Word Count from post: 869
Total Word Count: 2511

[J'Ak]

G R A D E



xp

Observation +3
Mathematics +1
Hunting +2
Trapping +1
Tracking +1
Weapon: Shortbow +1


lores

Mathematics: Counting sounds to discern individuals
Drykas: At the mercy of Nature
Wolves: Prey on Drykas children
Watersources attracts animals
Trapping: Remember where you set your traps!
Stealth: Watch out for crunchy leaves!
Trapping: Catches can be stolen by predators before you get to it
Archery: Shortbow range
Fox: Crafty critters


penalties

- 2 arrows


NOTES

Great work! You play to Ramona's skills very realistically, which makes for an interesting thread. Just as a note: the codes in your ledger are a little broken which can make your ledger hard to read, if you get a chance to fix these graders will appreciate it.


If you feel I missed anything let me know via PM!
Don't forget to edit your grade request here.