If Only Makutsi Were Here (Solo)

[Jaspayia]

Timestamp: Spring 23, 512 AV A pair of ebony eyes opened suddenly, with no signs that they had been in a slumber moments before. Jaspayia listened before stirring, a trait one needs to survive out here. Especially after that time a few years back where she had awoken to find her tent surrounded by some curious jackals. She could hear a light wind outside, and she waited for it to abate. When it did, she held her finger tips out above her, like she had learned as a child. It wasn't necessary to do it like that, but she liked how her father had taught it. She felt for anything that could be moving both within and without the tent. Sensing nothing she very slowly peeled back her winter blanket, to ensure no snakes or scorpions had decided to hunker down for the night. Sure enough, down by her feet was a tan and brown set of coils. She slowly, pulled her legs up, and tucked her feet beneath her. She leaned closer to see if it was dangerous or not, while she pulled her dagger from her belt. She saw the tail poking out from the coils, and saw no ridged rattle, which crossed off many dangerous breeds, though it could still be poisonous. She couldn't think of any other way to discern until she got a view at the fangs. If it excreted toxin, then clearly it was poisonous. It didn't appear to be too threatened by her. She held her dagger in her right hand, and held her left at the ready, open. She leaned forward slowly, slightly, saying a mental prayer to Eywaat, asking to grant her the speed and dexterity of a hawk. Her hand shot forward and grasped the snake behind the head. It began to writhe in her hand, twisting hard, trying to escape. It began to hiss, a tail hooking over her arm. Then she felt the squeeze, not too tight considering it's size, but she was relieved. Squeezing meant that it wasn't poisonous at all. She thought about setting it free, but that would be a waste of a captured creature. She walked to the entrance of the tent, popped her head out to make sure it was safe. Her ebony eyes scanned the beautiful swept dunes. Satisfied, she stepped out into the cool air, sure to warm when Syna rose. She brought her dagger's blade up beneath the creature's head, just behind the skull. She said a quick prayer to Caiyha for the bounty, and sliced it off. She held out the severed neck, letting the blood run into sand. She didn't want the blood on her gear, it would attract unwanted animals looking for a free meal. After the blood drained out, she stowed it into a pouch on her belt. She could skin and eat it later, food, was not the most important thing this day. She quickly packed up her tent and gear, and slung her pack on to her back, noting that Syna was getting ready to wise. East, Syna always wakes from the east. She knew if she went slightly to the left of where Syna rose, she would eventually find Ahnatep. She could smell the coastal waters nearby, a coast she knew that lied between her and Syna. Which meant... that Ahnatep was north, up the coast. Her water trap got nothing the night before, and ever since the storm, the oases around Ahnatep were even more heavily guarded. She shook the waterskins that hung on either hip, too much sloshing. She had enough for the day. First rule of the desert, always have water. She trudged her way up a sloping rocky formation, and took a long look at the blue expanse of the ocean. She sighed, all that water, and they couldn't drink it. Laviku was a cruel kind of tease. But Makutsi, she would take care of her, she always did. Jasp decided to head north, maybe a new upwelling made a new oasis, less guarded. She had to try, she wouldn't die like some foreigner that came sight seeing in the land. She carefully made her way down the rocky formation and up the spine of a dune, to reach the top. She would always take the highest path possible, for quite simply, she needed to see everything. Her black eyes scanned the dunes to the west, not much but sand upon piles of sand. South was more rocky ridges, and east belonged to Laviku. She began at a brisk jog, not enough to force her to waste skin-water. She wanted to cover as much ground as possible before Syna's smile made such a task near impossible. Her webbed feet pushed her along the sand with a grace only her people could achieve, her legs carrying her far in their long strides. Once Syna's burning smile took over, she slowed to a trudging walk. She hadn't seen a damned thing since she started. She rose to the top of a particularly tall dune, when her fingers felt something, something moving. She couldn't quite tell what it was, so she stopped, focused on the current she felt. Several short movements... two sources, moving toward each other. Then a sudden stop. Then it repeated. She smiled. She knew what that feeling meant. Bokbaws. She knew the proper name was Bowbacked Goat, but when she was little she always called them Bokbaws. And it sounded like a couple of them were butting heads. Perhaps she'd found her water source after all. She crouched down low, and slowly made her way to the crest of the dune. She pulled her camouflaged tarp and wrapped it around her, blending in with the sun kissed sands. She edged up to the crest, careful not to bump it, and give away her position. She peered down and was thrilled at the sight of a handful of Bokbaws. However, they weren't alone. She saw a herder, an Eypharian keeping watch on them. She could try to kill him, but it would be a wasted death, she wasn't a cannibal like those to the west across the waters. She might be able to knock him out with one her small game arrows, but not at this range. She'd have to get closer, much closer. She examined the area, planning her point of approach. From her vantage point at the crest, the dune wrapped around the small herd and leveled out. There appeared to be some small shrubs and a bit of small, weedy foliage. An indication of water, but nothing that came to the surface. She didn't see much in the way of cover. She broadened her scope, and saw a small rise in the sand a ways off, but it would allow her to get out of the immediate line of sight.

[Jaspayia]

She slowly lowered herself down the dune a bit. She shrugged off her pack, pulled her bow off, which was strapped to the outside. She pulled over her narrow shoulders and head, and grabbed her quiver, and strapped that to her back as well. She made sure she had her dagger, and her waterskins. Finally, she made sure she had her water trap. Satisfied, she buried her pack in the slope of the dune, a single feather sticking out of the sand. She crouched, and slowly followed the sloping curve of the dune, while bundling up her camo tarp, keeping her head ducked down and out of sight. When she ran out of cover, she unbundled her tarp, put it over her body, and dropped to a prone position. She pulled herself slowly, inches at a time, by her elbows and knees. She would peer out from under the tarp, keeping an eye on the man, who hadn't seemed to notice her yet. She continued along, only moving when his vision was preoccupied, until she finally made it to the small rise. She was now behind his swath of eyesight, but the Bokbaws could still be startled. She bundled up the tarp, and stuck it in the sand. She pulled off her bow and tested the string and pull, ensuring it's readiness. She uncapped her quiver, and pulled out one of her game arrows, with its heavy, blunt end. It was designed to stun small prey without ruining the meat. If she could hit him in the skull, she could likely knock him out. She nocked her bow, and began the creep of predator on prey. Step by silent step, she tried to time her steps with ambient noises, the wind, a goat bray. She eventually was within twenty paces of the man. She gripped her arrow with two fingers, and drew it back, and pulled the bow up and in front of her. She continued to slowly walk forward, to further increase her chance of success, her eyes too fixated on the man to notice the light branch of a small shrub just beneath her foot. CRUNCH! She breathed in quickly, and stretched the string to her ear, just as the man turned around to her. A single release, and it flew toward him and struck him in the forehead, right between the eyes, which wasn't the intended target. She had wanted the side of the head, where it was softer. The blow knocked the man backwards in the sand, unsure if he was unconscious or not. She cursed herself for her clumsiness, now the whole situation was awry. She needed to regain control. She should have brought some rope. She put her bow away, and drew her dagger. She quickly made her way over to the fallen man, who wasn't moving, but could be faking as well. She circled him, dagger at the ready, looking for any sign of movement or life. He had a large knot growing on his head, red, purple, painful. She could see that his chest was still rising and falling, slowly, so he was still alive at least. She kicked some sand in his face, and got no reaction, which brought a smile to her face. He was out. She looked over at the Bokbaws. There were five in all, two males, and three females. She didn't want to ruin the guy, and she knew that their water organs held about the same amount of water as a waterskin. Two should do the trick, and she would take a female, perhaps to sell. The goats hadn't even seemed to care about the new arrival nor that their master was rendered useless. She put her dagger away and set up her water trap, placing a water skin beneath it to catch every drop of moisture. She went over to one of the males, drawing her dagger once more. She cooed toward the goat, trying to not spook it, but wasn't fussed in the least. She gently grabbed one of its horns, and swung a leg over its body so she was straddling it. It now was a bit annoyed, so Jasp compensated by squeezing her knees into his sides, her arm flexing, trying to hold his head in place. It was rough, she wasn't as physically strong as some of the others of her tribe. She snaked her knife under its throat, uttered a prayer to Caiyha, and slit its throat quickly, viscerally. She pulled back on the horns, to let the blood drain out, finding it odd how the other goats didn't mind. When it was drained, about 20 chimes, she dismounted it, and tugged at it until it was out of its own blood, and slumped it into the sand. She had noting the hang it from, so this was going to be a bit tricky. And messy. She took her knife, and did a shallow cut through the skin, near the genitals, but not deep enough to get into the meat. She allowed the cut to glide down the body, to his chest. She then used the tip of her knife to cut around the anus of the critter. She then grabbed the intestine, pulled it out of the body a bit, then formed a knot with it. Didn't want to spoil the meat after all. She pulled back the small flaps of skin, and used her knife to glide between the meat and hide, separating the two. This took several chimes, and when she was done, she cut the hide from the neck and set it on the sand. Time to get the water organ out. She wouldn't be able to crack the ribs to get to them, so she'd have to go the long way from the bottom. She cut into the belly meat, and split it open, finding the intestines. She pulled these out gently, and set them to the side. She pulled out several other unnecessary organs, until she found the heavy, taut water organ. Carefully, she grasped it at the two ends of the organ, and slowly pulled on it. She pinched off the ends, and gave it a quick tug. The organ pulled away, the pinched ends keeping in the water. She carried it over to the water trap, and dumped the contents out, pure water flushing out. After every drop was in her water skin, she dripped a single drop of water additive into it. She heard a moan from the man, and swore loudly. She had to get gone.

[Jaspayia]

She didn't have long to gather her gear and disappear. She had to quickly decide on order of importance, in case she had to scramble. She first made her way to her water trap, closed the water skin and put it on her hip. She quickly dismantled the water trap and packed it up. She then went back to the hide, and pulled out her dagger, and quickly cut two long strips from it. She rolled up the remaining hide and tied it up with one of the strips. She put the bundle in her belt pouch, and quickly ran over to the man, grabbing the arrow that had put him in such a state. She deposited it into her quiver, and looked down at the man. He was still stirring, but hadn't even opened his eyes yet, so she knew she had a few chimes at least. She made her way to one of the female goats, and using the remaining strip of hide, tied a leash around the goat's neck. As she pulled, the female resisted at first, braying. But eventually she followed suit, as Jasp made her way to other goats. A slight kick to the rump sent them all trotting out to the desert. She then bent down and picked up some of the short, stubbly grasses, handful by handful. She deposited the goat feed into a pouch on her belt, and made her way over to the stirring man. She kicked him lightly in the shoulder, in poor Arumenic, "Hey, your herd is escaping!" Then she and the female goat made way in the opposite direction, back to where she'd stashed her camouflage tarp. She stopped there, and gave the goat some grass so it would stay put. She bundled up the tarp and carried it in her free hand. She stayed low behind the dune, in case the man decided to chase her rather than his herd. She made her way along the dune until she found the feather marking her pack. She pulled the goat up the dune, who was tugging back on the rope, straining her muscles. She grunted, her webbed feet churning up sand as she dragged it up the dune. Her arms and back were burning under the strain, curses flying unladylike from her mouth. When she finally reached where her pack was, she wasted no time digging it out, packing up her bow and quiver, and slinging it onto her back. She peeked out over the top of the dune, and a flash of light slashed toward her. She fell back out of instinct and saw the herdsman mounting the top of the dune, knives in both of his left hands. Then gravity continued its hold as she began sliding down the dune, dragging a scared Bokbaw with her. When she bottomed out, she quickly checked that she had everything, and saw the man storming down the dune toward her. She shrugged off the pack and quickly untied her shortbow. She twisted off the cap and tossed it aside, and pulled two arrows out, not checking to see which kind they were. She nocked one, a standard arrow meant to kill, and pulled the string back to her ear. She put her left leg forward, braced with her hind, and tightened her torso and abdominals. She took one deep breath, and released an arrow at the herdsman. It seemed to fly true, but zipped right past his left ear in the sand behind him. He was unphased and kept storming, almost upon her. She nocked her second arrow, this one a game arrow. She pulled her bow up to point it at the man, but he was just about upon her. She quickly pulled back on the string and right before he was upon her, she collapsed her hind hip, dropping down into a sort of kneeling, aimed upwards as the man was barreling along, and fired. The blunted arrow flew straight upwards and crashed into the bottom of his chin. She heard cracking and a cry of pain as he collapsed in a heap on her. He was a dead weight atop her, leaving her to wonder if she'd knocked him out once more. As she pushed him off her, she felt a sharp pain in her side. She looked down and saw that one of his knives had carved a shallow groove into her side. She didn't know if it was life threatening or not as it seeped blood into the sands below. She picked herself up, clutching her side, and gathered up her gear. The damn goat had run off, with the hide leash still attached. She picked up the knife that had stabbed her and slipped it into her belt. He wasn't keeping any of her blood. Gear packed and slung onto her back, she set off to the east, towards the coast, to prepare for the second stage of survival, after acquiring water.

[Cantrip]

Did you want something? Jaspayia:  XP Award: Dagger +2; Wilderness Survival +3; Running +1; Observation +1; Camouflage +1; Shortbow +1; Hunting +1; Butchery +1 Lores: Poisonous Snakes (Eyktol); Eypharian Herding Practices; Bokbaw Anatomy Additional Notes: Refreshing focus on aspects for survival, depiction of Suli-Eypharian relations.