Solo A Hunt at the Basin

[Tinnok]

35th of Fall, 514 A.V.

A light rain fell around the Kandukta basin that morning, causing the surface of the water to constantly be in flux. Insects flitted to and fro, occasionally landing upon the water, somewhat less frequently being grabbed from their landing spot by a waiting fish or turtle or...other. A familiar Witch was patrolling the thick brush around the edges of the basin with bow out and spear tucked away on her back. She had had very little luck hunting on her way to the basin, skirting the myrian blockade, sleeping fitfully in trees with nightmares of fangs catching her and dragging her back to Taloba.

The game that came to the basin, however, was usually worth the risk, and despite her fears, her precautions, though making the journey longer, had resulted in her not seeing a single fang. Despite that, however, she had been eating minimally on her travels, and hadn't had a fresh meal that wasn't her jerky or dried fruit. Her stomach constantly rumbled, and she was constantly yawning from her fitful rest. Her first goal was to catch something fast and eat it, rest briefly, then continue on her mission. Of course that was easier planned then done.

Moving slowly, trying to create the least amount of rustling she could as she passed through some rushes and ferns, Tinnok bare feet crossed from dry, albeit moist land, into the shallows of the basin. She crouched, and took careful slow steps so that the water didn't audibly swish around her legs as she waded through the water, eyes scanning the surface. Insects and small kingfishers darted and dashed through the rain drops, fleeing and feasting in equal measure. She saw larger ripples created by fish beneath the surface, and took another couple measured wades forward, replacing her bow with her spear.

The half breed was so busy on the vast spread of the basin in front of her, she didn't notice the eyes watching her directly to her right, in the midst of a few plants coming out of the water. A certain level of stillness came over her immediate area, and Tinnok's eyes wandered first left, then right to find two beady black eyes, a short snout and wet fur peeking out above the water. It took her a tick to identify the bearer of such features, but when she did she smiled. Soundlessly the giant otter dipped below the water and swam over to her, popping its head up again right next to her. She reached down and scratched behind the creatures tiny little ear nubs. It was an older male, and was having quite a good hunting day all things considered. Various fish, several large frogs, and a couple crustaceans rested comfortably inside his belly, and Tinnok's mouth began to slather as the images flood her mind of the otter's teeth tearing and ripping through their succulent flesh.

Tinnok's mind fastened on the final images the otter shared with her, and pressed upon some crabs, which from the flashes seemed to indicate the most recent of meals. The otter quorked his head slightly, then swam off, his tail and back undulating smoothly through the water. At first Tinnok took his behavior to mean that he was simply done with their encounter, that was until she saw his head pop back up a short distance away, checking to see if she was following him.

The Witch smiled and began her slow wade to see what the Otter was going to show her.

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[Tinnok]

Abandoning her shoddy job of wading silently, Tinnok returned her bow to her back and slowly lowered herself in the lukewarm water, mostly pushing herself with her feet which still had contact with the bottom of the basin as she clumsily followed the otter through the water.

It took only a couple chimes of slow paddling and wary eyes to catch up with him, part of his back and shoulders exposed as he dragged himself on shore, something hanging out of his mouth. Tinnok knew what it was instantly, but was brought to a harsher realization when her foot stepped on a hard object that proceeded to pinch her toe viciously. Losing her already precarious balance Tinnok grunt, gritting her teeth to keep from making any more water, pitching entirely into the water.

Her eyes closed, hands reaching beneath the water, and about ten ticks later when she came up for air, gasping and spluttering she had the crab that had pinched her in her hand, raising it up high and dashing him swiftly and viciously against the rocks, the audible cracking of shell and breaking of body sounding around her. Not caring about anything other than the quick meal, the half breed immediately went to pulling out the white somewhat rubbery meat within and shoveling it into her mouth. She stopped only when she heard a slight huff, glancing up at the male otter who had much more neatly cracked a hole in his kill and was slurping up his own meal. He set the crab down however and slid the short distance between them, looking up imploringly at her. Tinnok saw the image of the crab and her own hands giving it to the otter, and despite her rumbling belly calling for more food she complied. The otter, gripping the first with his mouth, and then partially with one paw then proceeded to wash the crab off, getting out some of the stray broken pieces of shell, and washing away the mud and dirt that collected in its body from its violent end. After a few ticks, Tinnok feeling quite ashamed, he returned the crab to her, and she couldn't help but laugh as he went off to return to his meal, feeling very much like a child as she began eating again, though in a much more reserved fashion.

Three crabs later Tinnok was finally feeling full, her otter friend cleaning himself off on the bank nearby. Now that her own food needs had been met, Tinnok decided it was time to hunt for larger game she could bring back to the nest. She imagined Fish might be a welcome change from the normal fair, but she would have to find ones big enough to actually satiate a Dhani, which meant going deeper into the basin, something which as she was now...could prove difficult.

First Tinnok removed all her belts and weapons, leaving her with just the bindings on her breast and the short light cotton pants she wore. She then implored her new companion, asking him politely if she might touch and examine his fur. The giant otter had little idea of what the Witch was going to be attempting, but she communicated that it would help her with fishing, and this seemed enough for him, for he rather pitied the long legged gangly thing that was so awkward in the water.

Tinnok ran her fingers through the still wet otter fur. Though wet it was oily, and if you rubbed it the wrong way there were still dry fur beneath, the thick substance keeping the water in the top layer of fur. His paws were webbed, thick rudder like tail a powerful muscle, whole body made to worm and writhe its way gracefully through the water.

Tinnok was slowly growing more confident with her morphing transformations, but what she was going to attempt now was going to be the most detailed form she had ever attempted, exciting and frightening her simultaneously.

First she had to get the fur down, it would be key she decided. She began with the back of both of her hands, focusing her Djed into them, but pooling it beneath the back of her hand instead of pushing it into her fingertips like she did when summoning up claws for climbing. Small short brown patches sprouted from each hand, her mind conjuring up Nandhai fur first, then thickening and lengthening it. She kept an eye on her right hand, while her left ran through the Otter, who was confused and bemused at the spectacle unfolding before him. Occasionally she would stop to feel the fur on the back of either of her hands, but while it grew thicker and dense like the Otter's fur, it did not possess the slightly oily quality that he had, and her mind couldn't wrap around how to put something which she did not understand into her creation. After about ten chimes, Tinnok huffed, in a similar manner to the Otter and released the fur.
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[Tinnok]

"If I cannot have your fur I am at least going to get some webbing for myself." Tinnok whispered angrily under her breath and decided to instead take a stab making her feet and hands webbed. This was a much simpler idea, one that compounded off of something she did quite frequently, ushering her Djed from her core into her fingers and toes. She wrinkled her nose, for the Djed seemed to want to go where it normally did, and resisted when she stopped it, lengthening it so it filler her fingers and toes, but didn't actually reach into the tips of any of these appendages. Then she pushed out from the joining stretch of skin in between each finger and toe simultaneously. For a new morph this was a lot to focus on, eyebrows furrowing and droplets of sweat appearing on her brow, but if the half breed wasn't going to cover her flesh with otter fur, she was going to at least test the limits of her concentration with her morphing ability.

At first nothing happened, her brain and coordination with her Djed sort of bottlenecking in a mental issue as she tried to organize her thoughts to clearly direct her djed. Then of a sudden she could see and more importantly feel the bit of extra skin between appendages lengthen, crawling up along her fingers, a strangely smooth transition as she both stretched and created new skin to fit between her fingers. She could only do this for a bit upon her toes, and concentrated fiercely on stopped and holding the Djed there, then focusing back on her fingers, watching as the new flesh reached up to aknuckle, then past it, stopping at the second one. She stretched her fingers apart, feeling the strange new webbing, then examined between the Otter's toes again and did some fine tuning on the flesh, which currently was just like the rest of her skin. She focused on the texture, which needed to thicken, but change as well to something slightly more rubbery, better for propelling her through the water. Her skin took on a slightly translucent quality, which she decided was a good sign. Having completed this step upon her hands, Tinnok bent down and repeated the process with her toes, wiggling everything and smiling when she was done. Then she grabbed up one of her daggers, placed it between her teeth, and slid into the water.

Making eye contact with the Giant Otter, Tinnok extended an invitation to fish with her, placing in a polite addendum that she was not a graceful swimmer, and probably would not be very adept at it, as the otter had already seen, so she wouldn't blame him if he did not want to follow the clumsy Witch around. Not waiting for a reply Tinnok dove headfirst into the water, eager to try out her new morph. Though her feet and hands were not made for swimming, the webbing did help to propel and push the water away, each movement of her leg feeling more powerful than it had before, the movement of her hands more key in turning and pushing her through the water. Of course she only had a few ticks below the surface before she needed to come up for air, wondering how advanced she would have to be to shift her eyes into something that could see in the depths of the basin. That being said, even with the rain the water became clearer towards the center of the body of water. She might just catch some fish yet.
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[Tinnok]

The idea of fishing with a rod had never appealed to Tinnok. Most of the Myrians she had known, used nets of some sort, either in the open ocean along the coast or in fast paced rivers at certain points in the season. She had known a few to use rods, but it was a patient practice that she knew she could not abide. That being said, stabbing a fish with a dagger instead of the teeth or claws many other fishing beasts in the basin, was easier said than done. Tinnok toyed with the idea of adding claws onto her webbed fingers, but decided that was best left when she had the time to concentrate.

Despite her clumsiness, she was able to push herself, feeling more graceful even though she didn't look it, into the much deeper water of the Kandukta basin, a niggling fear of what would happen if she lost her webbing hanging in the back of her mind. Legs pumped in a relaxed manner, not wanting to tire herself out unnecessarily as she made her way into deeper waters, dipping her face beneath the surface occasionally.

She wanted a larger fish, perhaps two to bring back to the nest. Large enough to carry, even if they slowed her down. Little piranha or cachama, or even smaller fish didn't interest her, and conversely didn't seem to be interested in her either. She spotted a couple turtles, and watched kingfishers dart gracefully above the water, picking up their smaller insectoid prey as easily as one might a speck of dirt off of the ground.

Tinnok found that focusing on swimming and concentrating on holding her Morph at the same time was not as hard as she had once found, but at the same time, this level of concentration did not help her with fishing. Slowly, and at first unbeknownst to her the rain stopped, leaving the surface of the water clear from ripples, and also helping her visibility. Pushing herself hands rhythmically sweeping the water back and away from her, she froze in place, staring towards a cluster of rocks to see a massive Arapaima slowly moving to the surface of the water for air, distinctive shape and fins giving its identity away.

Though faced with perfect prey, the half breed was rather tenuous as to how to go about attacking the fish. A few deep dagger cuts around the gills and neck would surely kill the fish, but if it made to swim away, she was not sure if she could catch it, and grabbing a hold of it while simultaneously trying to kill it seemed like a tall order.

Its strangely shaped mouth breached the surface and she heard the distinctive gulp of air it took. Any ideas or strategies fled her mind as legs kicked powerfully, desperately, towards the fish. It took only three leg kicks and the thing was going below, had noticed her, and its strangely oblong body was rotating, moving away, sleek and made for swimming beneath the water, unlike her own form, which had only adapted one part of swimming into it.

Tinnok kicked her legs harder, teeth biting harder into the wet leather hild of her dagger, arms surging forward and stretching before her, pointing an impromptu arrow before driving back in an effort to propel her forwards faster.

It took only about 10 ticks to realize she wasn't going to be able to keep this pace, let along catch her auspicious prey with it. A few more, desperate clumsy swimming lurches through the water and Tinnok was going to give up, her arm muscles already complaining and burning from a different kind of strain than she was used to.

A dark shadow darted beneath the water, behind the Arapaima. She blinked, hesitantly pushing herself forward a bit farther through the water, glimpsing the Giant Otter roll the fish, body slamming forcefully into the creature, knocking it slightly towards Tinnok, but more importantly, stopping its speedy retreat.

The half breed, let the dagger fall from her mouth, grabbing it clumsily in one hand as her legs pumped furiously through the water, body writhing in an attempt to help push her forward. The Otter had its body partially wrapped around the Arapaima, and she was able to grab onto its head, and dart her hand forward, punching through the water with her dagger to stab it in the gills. It thrashed powerfully, knocking the otter off and sending Tinnok backwards somewhat, a cloudy pool of red emerging from the gash she had struck in the fish's scales, deep, but far from a killing blow.

Then, there was a moment of Unison. Tinnok below the surface for a moment glanced at the otter, the otter at her, and between their glances, the link that her phylonura allowed, the two of them came to silent agreement. The Otter dove swiftly down and curved in a swift upward arc, coming to block the Arapaima's retreat, Tinnok using the last of her dwindling strength the cross the distance between the much more water savvy creatures. She needed one more well placed strike, one more to end it. The otter would give her the chance, acting as the diversion, bobbing and weaving around the large fish to keep it from fleeing. The half breed kicked her legs out, reached the scales and sank her dagger up to the hilt into the neck of the fish, just below its jaws.

One flail of its tail, then another significantly weaker, and the creature was dead. Tinnok struggled to the surface with the suddenly heavy burden, breaking and gasping for air, then sheathed her dagger and made the much more slower, clumsy swim back to shore to sort out her webbing, as well as give the otter his fair share of the prize. The arapaima was about 5 feet long, and made up the limit of what the half breed could carry by herself to the nest. That being said, no one complained when she did deliver the precious cargo to the nest.

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[Dravite]

Tinnok

XP Award:

• Planning: 1
• Stealth: 1
• Swimming: 3
• Fishing: 2
• Hunting: 2
• Animal Husbandry: 1
• Morphing: 2
• Logic: 1
• Intelligence: 1
• Tactics: 1
• Endurance: 2
• Weapon, Dagger: 1
• Body Building: 1

Lore:

• Stealth: Move slowly through water to avoid detection
• Hunting: Fish create ripples on the water's surface
• Fishing: Toes are as good a bait as any
• Wash food before you eat it
• Bigger fish, deeper water
• Otter fur is oily
• Otters have webbed paws
• Morphing: Using a live model
• Fishing: Nets
• Kandukta Bbasin: Great for fishing and swimming
• Fishing: How to kill a fish
• Webbed hands and feet make swimming easy
• Otters are great fishing companions
• Dagger: Using a dagger under water

Penalties:
Tinnok Will fell a little tired for the next 24 bells

Loot:
(I won’t award the fish because it seems it was eaten after being dragged back to the nest)

Notes: Hello, Tinnok! I found this thread surprisingly enjoyable, not knowing what to expect when I first started reading. I think you have a beautiful writing style and I really envy your obvious talent! I loved the teamwork between your PC and the Otter, thought that was a great idea. I'm still new to grading so if you find anything wrong with the XP or Lore, feel free to PM me and say. Let me know if you think I have missed anything here and be sure to edit your grading request!

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