Hunters on the Web [Ronan]

by **Sama'el Sunsinger** on February 14th, 2012, 11:41 pm

Sama'el just smiled, some part of him pleased to have shown up the older Drykas, though tempered with the fact that he didn't really wish ill on Ronan. To his mind, once Ronan joined the Watch, he would quickly prove himself phenomenal, and then his arms would always be dripping attractive Drykas girls who wanted to dance around his may pole and have lots of sex and babies with him. Then he shrugged; Ronan and the others should be happy he and Issima made a point of being quiet, for they wouldn't get any sleep if the pair of them were moaning and screaming all night long.

But he paid close attention to the blood spots, and the patterns that the hare's travel made. It was obviously not walking normally, but then the blood ran out, and there were bigger tracks, indistinct in the snow as if whatever it was had been shuffling along. It shouldn't be a bear; they would be hibernating now, though if one woke untimely, it might be hungry as, well, a bear. Wolves, perhaps, or...

Ronan seemed to be halfway touching the Web. One couldn't really do much beyond see the energy without stepping out of the body, but he hadn't quite done that. Still, Sam nudged closer with Horse in case he had to hold Ronan up. But he nodded at the signal from Ronan, and Horse sensed the need to be silent. He pointed to his eyes and then at Ronan, followed by a curving path to the right. Then he tapped his chest and curved an imaginary path to the left. That basic tactic decided, he unslung his bow and nocked an arrow.

With a little urging, Horse began to suss out the quietest path to the left. It was days like today Sama'el was glad there was some Frostmarch blood in Horse's background.

by **Ronan** on February 15th, 2012, 2:07 pm

Sama'el motioned for them to perform a pincer technique, dividing between two separate curved paths. Sam took the left, willing Horse onwards. Ronan moved Tairell to the right, still feeling the residues of energy left behind by whatever had injured the rabbit.

Trees shrouded their passage, but soon a shape became visible. And it was familiar to him, since this beast could also be found at home, in the grasses. An Olidosapux - its great horn striking fear into Ronan.

Except, these creatures were plant eaters - why would one attack a rabbit? He tapped half into the Web again, ignoring the tingling in his head, and tried to fathom out what was going on. But he got no further. He restrained Tairell from going any further, remaining partially hidden. The creature was turned away, and thus far, hadn't noticed them.

He glanced to the side, hoping to catch site of Sama'el emerging with Horse.

by **Sama'el Sunsinger** on February 16th, 2012, 4:40 am

On his separate trajectory, Sama'el didn't catch sight of the olidosapux for almost a minute after Ronan, but when he did, he tried to remain quiet despite getting very excited. When he saw Ronan looking for him and they made eye contact, he grinned. Certainly an olidosapux wouldn't harm a rabbit unless it was to accidentally stampede over one, but that seemed highly unlikely. There might be some other predators out there, but he hoped most of them had gone to sleep for the winter as their host, the bear had done. Then again, there were olidosapai, so...

Bows and arrows were out; all that remained was to coordinate their attack. Neither of them being crack shots, it was probably best to aim for larger targets that would disable the great beast: shoulders, hips. The olidosapux's meat would feed the band of Drykas for a good long while, and Sama'el could give a shot to tanning the hide, a little something more for them to use. The weather was going to get worse again, he could just tell. They weren't leaving their cave for good, not for a while.

But here Sam left over trying to be leader for a moment. Ronan had seen it first, so he had right of first shot. Sam indicated the beast with a hand as if to say: Well, what do you want to do?

He waited for Ronan's call, but was ready to shoot at the drop of a hat. Maybe he would make them all leather hats from the olidosapux. That would help keep heat from escaping out the top of their heads.

by **Ronan** on February 17th, 2012, 1:53 am

Ronan had virtually no experience with a bow, but he followed Sam's hand signals, and decided he should take the lead.

The beast was still unaware of their presence, plodding through the snow, and trying to find any scraps of plant life poking through the frozen ground. Ronan steadied himself on Tairell's back, and lifted the bow, quietly nocking an arrow in preparation.

Aim and shoot. What else was there to it, he asked himself?

But he couldn't have guessed the chaos his shot would unleash. He tried to aim squarely for the animal's head - a quick kill. But the creature turned at the last moment, and Tairell moved in panic. He loosed the arrow into the air, the position all out. The arc of the arrow swept downwards, and it embedded into the beasts leathery leg.

It cried out, but did not fall. The arrow enraged it, and it faced them both, threatening to charge. Ronan was preoccupied however. Tairell kicked up, and he was nearly knocked off of the top of her. She was out of control, and he struggle to regain a semblance of authority over her.

And the beast was still present, angered by Ronan's failed attack.

by **Sama'el Sunsinger** on February 18th, 2012, 6:13 am

When he saw Ronan prepare to fire, he raised his own composite shortbow and sighted, waiting for Ronan to take his shot with pride of place as the one who found the beast. As soon as the arrow appeared in the olidosapux's leg, he made a snap decision and aimed for the same leg, hoping to ruin it to the point that it could not maneuver, let alone flee. His own aim was a bit better, close enough to the knee joint to hamper its movement.

Then he realized that Ronan was having difficulty with his mare, and he shouted, "Get her under control!" even as he was pulling another heavy game arrow from his quiver, nocking in, aiming and firing, this one plunging into the beast's shoulder. With three arrows in its leg, it wasn't going to be able to charge very effectively, but it could still do damage if they got in closely.

He pulled another arrow and nocked it, but rather than firing right away, he looked more closely at Ronan and Tairell, wanting to make sure Ronan didn't get thrown or hurt. Striders were intelligent, but they were far from Cyphrus and the horses had gone through as much trial and tribulation as their riders.

Embarrassing! :

by **Ronan** on February 19th, 2012, 12:51 am

Ronan desperately tried to pull the reins and get some control over Tairell. She snorted, and whinnied, kicking up once, before stepping backwards in an almost drunken motion.

"Come on girl," he whispered, leaning slightly towards her head, "come on, calm down now."

In the meanwhile, Sama'el had gotten another two arrows into the beast. It's charge was postponed, for now. But its eyes burned like something fierce and wild.

Tairell seemed to calm a little, but she continued her slow retreat from the creature. Ronan glanced back to Sam, shaking his head, somewhat relieved. "Why did it attack the rabbit? These things eat grass, right?"

He looked around the tundra, wondering if the Winter had driven it to meat eating. If it had been split from its kin, then that eventuality seemed likely.

"Sorry to scare you there," he added, and then broke into a grin, keeping half an eye on the beasts lethargic movements, "I was just testing, of course."

by **Sama'el Sunsinger** on February 25th, 2012, 7:38 pm

"Don't assume anything," he said, not unkind, but not unsmiling, his leadership coming back to the fore. "Tap the Web. Look to see if there's anything else out here that might have attacked the hare. If there are other predators out here, we need to know."

That said, he urged Dohaina carefully forward, putting arrow after arrow into the olidosapux, trying to damage the legs, which would make it easier pickings, and also not put holes into the larger swathes of hide that he might manage to cure even in their rudimentary camp. When he was close enough and the beast had fallen and could not get up, he whispered prayers to Caiyha, and shot the beast directly into its eye, the damage to its brain causing a few tremors of dying nerves, and then stillness.

He glanced back at Ronan for answers as to what else was lurking on the Web. With them out here away from the origin stone, there was a bit more stretch and sway to its reach in this area, lines linking them to each other, to their Striders, and to the origin itself.

If they were well and alone, they could begin to harvest the meat and the skin and the like. If not, well, they might have to defend their kill or, worse, their camp.

by **Ronan** on February 26th, 2012, 5:51 pm

Ronan nodded firmly. Sama'el was younger than him, but his senior in so many cases.

Allowing the Watcher to finish the kill, Ronan stiffened, half closing his eyes to try and concentrate. Touching that balance, he looked around the Web to try and sense anything else.

But there was just snow, and the lines of travellers and their own movements. The Olidosapux had clearly been desperate, caught in the Winter snow and hungry enough to break its own herbivore values. The hare had survived however, though he doubted it would live much longer, limping and bleeding through tracts of snow.

They were alone, and so he thanked Semele for protecting the ground they moved on, and pulled back from the ethereal Web.

The beast lay dead on the ground, Sam moving towards it on Dohaina. "We're alone," Ronan said, "I think the poor beast was just hungry. It's been a bad winter."

by **Sama'el Sunsinger** on March 2nd, 2012, 7:18 pm

OOCPerhaps Ronan should track down that hare? It'd be the merciful thing to do.

Sama'el nodded, trusting Ronan's word.

He climbed down from Horse's saddle and approached the dead odilosapux, still cautious because the nerves of a recently slain animal could still cause it to lash out violently and without prior notice. But Sama'el carefully worked his way around the beast and very carefully, but determinedly, slit it's throat into Dira's smile, whispering a prayer to Viratas to receive their offering. Little Hodei must have been watching from above, because the juvenile kestrel came flapping into the clearing to rest on Sama'el's quickly raised wrist. Her talons, sharp and smell, flexed into the leather for a good grip and she fluffed herself, rustling feathers to keep as much of the heat her flight had generated within.

She gave him an expectant look, and he helped her over to the odilosapux's horn, letting her perch there. He quickly pulled out an arrow and let her nibble at the gobbets of flesh that dangled from its end.

Smiling at her, and then Ronan, he pulled out the arrows one by one to let her have her appetizers.

"Do you want to help me skin it, or just learn by watching?" he asked. Sam himself was no expert, but Ronan had told him that while he could hunt, he didn't really know how to do the field dressing.

by **Ronan** on March 4th, 2012, 3:12 am

As Sama'el climbed from Horse, he wandered to the fallen beast and asked Ronan how he'd like to learn. Now wasn't the time for being passive, he thought with a firm nod and a tug of his dagger.

"My dagger has to get some use, right?"

He climbed from Tairell's back and walked through the snow towards the body.

"I learn best doing, I think."

It seemed that way anyway. He needed to listen, then do. He could never just read books and intuitively know things from then on. His mind had never worked that way.

"Show me the first cut, and then I'll try."