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Stretching northward along the coastline of the Suvan Sea, the Cobalt Mountains are the home of the Bronze Wood, numerous ruins, and creatures both strange and fantastical.
Distractions were what children used in their games. He wouldn't do it on purpose, he wasn't that underhand and childish - and neither, he hoped, were either of them. This was no child's game above all else, although whether these two would qualify for children was yet to be decided. They both certainly had a mind like one, the man above all else with his giggling and his brutish stupidity in the face of sheer danger and certain death.. he could see Mara watching him, and took little notice; instead, he took a step back and waited for her to simply make up her mind and take the shot - if she was such a spectacular marks-woman then shooting a little spot from considerably close range while not on a horse should have been something that even a child would have had little hesitation in.
But of course, there was a sudden distraction in the form of a wolf deciding to make an easy meal of the woman. His eyes widened in shock when the first wolf leaped out of its hiding place, followed soon by more - if there was a whole pack of the things, then they were truly outnumbered far beyond odds that he could put in their favour. And if neither the man nor the woman hadn't learned anything from earlier, they certainly hadn't now judging by the idiot of a man running head-long with a bow that, judging by his stance, he knew little to nothing at all about. He might as well have turned the bow the other way around and tried to shoot the wolves with that.
It could have been anything up to fifteen against three judging by the snarls in the background and the whispering shadows of black fur dancing through the pale moonlight, and their bows weren't going to help when the wolves could pick and choose which angle to come in from. Lining up a shot wouldn't stop two from attacking from the same angle and just mauling all of them without a second chance to even turn around.
Obviously, he did the sane thing that anyone would - since he was close to the tree that he'd climbed before, he did it again using the same footholds and grips around the trunk. Maybe he was the only one that realized that wolves didn't have opposable thumbs, even though they were free to try and snap after him around his ankles. By using the same versed method as before, discovered barely a few chimes before, he found it almost easy to ascend at a pace that was enough to get up the thing and onto a relatively steady branch before they could follow with their crude leaps into the air. And from there, he could calmly draw his bow and swing his legs over the side, picking out the first wolf at random and taking some deep breaths to steady his concentration, with the first arrow from his quiver taken out and strung out nice and evenly.. and then released.
It struck the thing on the shoulder and it yelped out loud, its back turned on the other two. By then, another arrow had been taken out and while the thing was perfectly still, scanning around for whatever had just attacked it, a second arrow went through its back. This was the way to hunt - above all, the smart way to hunt. Some of the wolves were beneath him, jumping up like hungry dogs, but they couldn't get high enough. And besides - Mara's horse was in serious danger of being slaughtered, if it didn't completely freak out and run away first.
And that was exactly why you don't bring horses to a hunt.
Last edited by Medhozic on January 25th, 2014, 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Quickly one of the smaller wolves came at her from the right. Leaping on her she was surprised but still able to grasp it's thick neck. Unable to hold it until it went limp she snatched a small knife from her belt loop and dug it deeply into thick the wolf's head. At first it fought back, It's teeth closing in on her face but then she took the knife one last time. Diving it heartlessly into the soft neck flesh below it's jaw, She got lucky. If Mara had not hit the flesh and the bone it would have brought the snapping jaws around her face.
Pushing the lifeless body off of her's she got to her feet. Blood splatter plastered minimal parts of her face. Her eyes scanned around. They all had different techniques. The Ethaefal choose to take to high ground, stealthily from above and the Kelivc attempted at what seemed to be brute force. Mara, Well she likes to stay back a distance, Quick jabs with a knife and unhesitating arrow releases.
Her fierce green eyes caught Flyod. Her attention drawn to him. The pony reared up and took to his back feet and tried to avoid the snaps of white teeth. For a minute she lost track of what she was doing, Like nothing mattered anymore. Only that she could keep his heart beating. Loading a arrow she let it go, It shoot thought the air then finally hit it's mark. Inching it's way throw all the flesh and fur it lodged it's self between two rib bones. Running forward she took the end of her bow and like earlier sent it crashing on the right side of the jaw until and cracking sound sent a uncomfortable yelp into the crisp air.
The lower jaw bone hung from it's head, Only attached by muscle. Putting the poor creature out of it's misery Mara didn't even have to do it, Flyod kicked his back legs and gave the wolf a crushing blow. Ending the pain. For a minute she felt remorse, Pain from the wolf's cry but she pushed them thought back for another day to dwell on and grabbed the leather reins. Yanking them down closer to her in effort to calm him and keep his head at a relative height.
Mara twisted and turned, Trying to watch her back and calm a unwilling beast at the same time.
Sei was seriously pissed. First the guy insults he and the lady, then he scrambles up a tree and hides. He had no idea what was going on in that head of his. He launched an arrow toward a wolf leaping for Mara, managing to strike through the chest. The wolf fell to the ground lifeless. He could hardly tell why the wolves were going after humans, but the outcome wouldn't be pretty. They needed a way out of their current situation, but the only option was to kill the wolves.
Unless they could find the alpha. Every pack is useless without a leader, but the only person with a good view was that guy. Then go with it. He growled to himself and looked up at Medhozic to speak. "Hope you can hear me. Find the alpha. Kill it and they'll go away."
Sei wasn't the only one getting more and more annoyed - Medhozic wasn't exactly having the time of his life either. Here he was, with two hunters. One looked pretty experienced with a bow from what he'd seen, even if the other had the mind of a five-year-old and the audacity to laugh in the face of certain death - and yet neither of them had ever thought that staying in the direct firing line of a pack of wolves would lead to, at the very least, quite serious harm. They were lucky that he had turned up at all.
One wolf still hung beneath, snapping up at his ankles and trying to leap in the air. The bow came down, arrow pinched against the thin drawstring, and shot the metal tip straight through the soft flesh at the top of its maw, driving home and leaving the thing to fall away, heavily injured and whimpering softly. He felt sad for it - putting such creatures in pain, regardless of their thirst for meat. What creature wouldn't, given the cold days and the shortage of food. There was nothing wrong with a bit of empathy for ones potential murderers. The two on the ground may have thought differently, but that was their mind and not his.
Another arrow launched at a wolf heading for Sei, and missed completely, sailing over its head and clipping the ground a short distance away. Oh well. It wouldn't be fun if the man didn't have to deal with at least some of the mess that he'd - ultimately - brought down on himself. So, he turned instead and shifted his concentration and angle on Mara, letting fly yet another arrow from his quiver into the right front leg of one of the wolves that had been snapping at the horse that she was trying to control, sending it limping off with several loud whimpers of pain. And then, all of a sudden, Sei was talking to him.
"How am I supposed to know which one is the petching Alpha." He wasn't even going to ask how the man knew of such things - his inhuman and distinctly-feline irises showed more than enough. The wolves seemed a congealed mass, some darting off into the shadows of the other trees surrounding the small area that they had been trapped inside, and he couldn't distinguish a pack leader even if he'd known the right signs. Even though he could tell that all three of them were going to run out of arrows before they would find whichever alpha they were supposed to be killing, the best option was to just 'hang tight' until something better became available. And he was completely fine with that - not like he was in any danger up in the trees. Not unless the wolves learned how to use woodcutter tools.
You have issues in your CS. Once you have cleared them, PM me, then I will give your grades.
Notes :
Abandoned thread it seemed, not much, but I gave what I could.
Sei, I have spoken to you about this again and again, please lengthen your replies until they are at least 300 words in length. Take a look at Medhozic's posts for example, he described his actions in detail and giving his PC's thoughts to his own actions and the actions of his thread partners. Also, he's an early novice in Longbow yet every shot he took somehow hits and he has no difficulty at all. You have overplayed Sei's skills time and time again, yet I have warned you each time, even going as far to put an intervention in some threads. This time, I will not award you longbow XPs until you appropriately play to his skill level.
Med, be careful on actions such as attempted murder of innocents, the knights do not take kindly to murderers... that should be obvious. Also, I know he's a high novice in Shorbow, but still a novice. I'd appreciate him missing more of his shots from the tree.
If Mara ever returns, please do not overplay your combat skills. That quick dagger strike is the mark of a competent wielder, yet Mara had zero points in Weapon: Dagger.
That aside, enjoy your grades, everyone.
My radiance is not bright enough?
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.
by Medhozic on January 21st, 2014, 7:29 pm 
