A Hunting Trip (Gone to the Dogs)

by **Maringar** on October 30th, 2012, 8:50 pm

Maringar carefully and quietly strung his bow, remaining alert of every little sound he made. He had had the good fortune of ambling onto a set of the fresh prints of a lone doe, clearly defined in fresh snowfall. He had been on the trail only an hour, but was confident enough to leave his hound Ripper behind to protect his meager possessions at a hasty makeshift campsite. Supplies were running scarce, and both he and Ripper would soon need more food, food that was just on the other side of that hill, he was sure of it!
Maringar lied down on his belly and pushed aside the snow in front of him with both hands, attempting to minimize any crunch of snow he might otherwise make by merely stepping on it, this way his body weight was more spread out. Slowly he crawled up the hill, it had gone around the other way but he was fairly certain he knew where the doe was now. The hill wasn't terribly high, so it didn't take long, and Maringar soon passed over the lip of the hill, bringing him to a sight that made his heart rejoice. The doe had paused to chew on the leaves of a bush tucked between two pine trees, it was a little farther away than he had hoped, but if he was careful it wouldn't matter.
He wasn't about to shoot an arrow now though, for the shot to be sure he needed to be a little closer, and he was sure he had felt a breeze earlier, he had to be certain.
Closer... slowly closer Maringar crept, the doe had it's head turned away, perfect! Maringar drew an arrow from his quiver and began to knock it. As if in response, the doe's head swung around, and it sniffed furiously at the air. The Wind! Damnit, it smelled him! How could he have been so stupid?
The doe looked straight at him, took a step away. This was his last chance, he had to take the shot. Fast as he could he drew the arrow to his cheek and released, the deer bolted before he was finished, and the arrow buried itself into one of the two pine trees neighboring the bush. Maringar sprinted after the deer, knocking another arrow, but it was much faster than him, it took only a minute for him to understand the futility. If he was going to try again he needed it to calm down, and that meant leaving it thinking it had lost him for a bit. Sulking, he went back to retrieve his arrow. The ash tip had been nearly ruined by the wood of the tree, but he deposited it back into his quiver anyway. He wasn't going to give up on that deer just yet, if he couldn't bring down a deer what hope did he have against the monsters of the world?

by **Maringar** on October 30th, 2012, 10:09 pm

Maringar slowly shadowed the animal, nodding in approval when the tracks eventually showed a change from bounds to steps. He was not trying to overtake the beast however, merely to continue following it, and he did so for another half hour.
His heart dropped. The deer had reached a clearing free of any fresh snowfall, gone were the clear footprints, replaced by unyielding permafrost ground. He scoured the clearing for any sign of what direction the deer may have went but found nothing. "Damnit!" frustration ruled his features as his face twisted into a snarling grimace. He dropped to the ground, fuming. He had squandered his good luck, he had not even seen trace of a deer in over a month, and now he had nothing to show for it. Not a thing.
A thought occurred to him. "No! You're doing it all wrong. Clear your mind of its baggage and focus on what's in front of you. Stop looking with your eyes, and start with your mind!" The words of a teacher.
Taking deep breaths Maringar closed his eyes, settling into a rhythm. He tried to open his mind, tried to touch the world around him with his thoughts, to feel it and caress it with his own Djed. Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes, looking for the traces of whatever auras he could. "It was coming into focus, he could almost see... yes! There it w-" his thoughts were interrupted by a lance of pain that shot into his head traveled through his spine and burrowed its way all the way to his toes, nausea and dizziness overcame him as the pain slowly faded away, and he surely would have fallen if he had been standing. Bile built in his throat and he had to keep himself from retching.
Well, that hadn't been a good idea.
Still, he had learned something. Once he recovered, he stood, swaying a little, and moved to the location of his interest. Just a few feet away, a small bit of grass, made smaller by the chomping of teeth recently. It was embarrassing that he did not notice it while he searched for sign of the doe, a sign that he should have learned more about tracking from his father. Or maybe more about Auristics from his teacher. His teacher...
Hardening, he pressed on in the direction he was sure the deer had gone, doing his best to ignore the weariness that had crept even further into his bones.

by **Maringar** on November 1st, 2012, 5:24 am

He didn't have much time, he had no more than an hour before twilight and could not afford to tarry. He forced his limbs to move quickly, and his eyes to absorb every detail that marked the passage of the doe as speedily as possible. Maringar's mind was empty of everything but the pursuit.
His limbs began to burn and his breathing grew heavy, even his mind groaned under the burden. Only as he began to close did he slow, did he pause to catch and slow his breath, but he did not do it to buy reprieve. Now he inched closer, moving around plant-life and continuing inexorably towards his goal. He saw the doe soon, and quietly knocking an arrow he drew even closer to it. Just as he was nearly close enough, he saw the doe's head move towards him, quickly he ducked behind a tree. He waited a moment before poking his head just beyond the pine needles. It was still tense, but it's attention was focused elsewhere, now was the chance if it was ever going to come.
Maringar took a deep breath, and stepped out from under the tree. Drawing arrow again to cheek, he released his breath and prepared to let loose. He did not get the chance. A terrifying roar shook him to terror, and he saw an enormous wolf -no... a wildcat, gods it was big!- jump onto the deer and rip it's throat out in the span of a second and a half. How a thing so big had escaped his notice he did not know, but he stood agape watching the creature tear into the small doe. It was white as the snow all around, but nearly as tall as him and at least half again as long, the thing even had tusks! Maringar had never seen anything like it in his life but he knew he had to get away now while it was occupied.
He mustered all of his will to stop from running and began to creep away, keeping low to the ground and keeping that arrow knocked. He walked backwards, to keep his eyes on the sabretooth -though he did not know it as such-, and only turned around to truly begin fleeing when it was sufficiently out of sight. He gave into the impulse to run, he was too exhausted for an all out sprint so he jogged back in the direction of his campsite. He had difficulty paying attention to the trail and several times fell and tripped, once he ran into a broken branch that cut open his cheek. It took time and some ocassional backtracking but he eventually reached his camp. Ripper whined loudly at the sight of him, but remained sitting, tail at a furious wag. "Hey there boy." He knelt down and scratched the war-hound's chin, it licked Maringar's bleeding cheek and whined again. "I'm okay Ripper, let's get us fed."
Walking over to his bag he dug into it, limbs moving with painful slowness he came out with a piece of wrapped smoked meat, a piece of bannock and some deer jerky. After tossing the meat to Ripper he tore into the jerky and the bannock, quickly it was gone.
Maringar sat down and began to contemplate the events of the day. That animal easily could have killed him if it was so inclined, he never would have even seen it coming, the knowledge shook him. His near death coupled with his earlier failures left a knot of pain in his stomach, he would be fool to ignore the events of the day. He had fooled himself, he was no monster-hunter, just an exhausted amateur who barely had the skills to kill a deer. Rifling through his pack he pulled out a chain shirt, and a metal cap. He had been a fool to leave behind the little protection he had, the armor *and* Ripper, the next time he went on a hunt he would undoubtedly bring both. It wouldn't be enough to ensure his survival, but he would bring both. Firstly though, he needed rest not possible in the wild, and most importantly he needed training, his exhaustion and inexperience could easily become his downfall. It was time he paid Avanthal a visit.

by **Valkyrie** on November 4th, 2012, 8:31 pm

Maringar :

You Will Be Collected if Worthy

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.

Completed A Hunting Trip (Gone to the Dogs)