Solo A Hunt in the Caverns

[Tinnok]

70th of Fall, 514 A.V.

It seemed to be partially in bad taste to hunt the salamanders of Zinrah, but Tinnok was not entirely sure why. Snakelings learned to hunt on the Salamanders int he lower levels, but at some age perhaps the action was seen as a childish endeavor and no longer fitting for an adult Dhani. There were a couple breeds that were poisonous, this much she had learned in her stay in the lower levels of the caverns, but apart from avoiding these types the meat and size of the salamanders posed a good meal. Since Tinnok had none of the socially involved reservations about how she might look mucking about in the unused levels of the city, she woke up early (by her internal clock), woke up Tsuya, and tried not to keep her intentions below the surface when she walked over a few of the salamanders that inhabited their own cavern.

Zinrah Climbers were what she was after as her feet took her steadily downward. Tsuya following her with one of her daggers. The half breed was determined to show Tsuya how to hunt and fend for herself for when the day came that they would part ways, each serving Caiyha in their own way. In many ways Tsuya was like a young snakeling, very new to the ways of the world, and blind to some of them as well. She had seen Tinnok hunt many times, but rarely raised a blade herself. Today was the day.

Tinnok had fashioned a crude torch out of a stick, extra binding bandages and moss found in her cavern, which she lit only once the presence of glowstones (at least one's purposefully placed for light) had disappeared almost entirely. There were of course opportunities to run into patches of water containing them, but since Tinnok did not have the Dhani's heat sensing vision, she had to rely on more obvious forms of light. Once the darkness became complete, she removed flint and steel and spent a couple chimes coaxing the torch into life.

Tsuya, now awake trailed after her, looking slightly forlorn, and the half breed was sure, hoping they wouldn't find salamanders to kill.
c

[Tinnok]

"Why do we have to do this, Tin? Why can't we leave them alone?" Tsuya's voice came out as a thin whine, which made the half breed's head dart around, her golden eyes mere slits, glinting dangerously in the low light of the torch. The girl knew that her tone and statement had set off her mentor, but she persisted nevertheless. Persistant was one of Tsuya's many qualities that at times made Tinnok's anger bubble up beneath the skin. "We don't kill the Salamanders that sleep in our cave, we've never hunted them before!"

The half breed had stopped moving as Tsuya approached her cautiously, knowing a bit of what was going on beneath the surface of her caretaker. Tinnok was for the most part an extremely calm individual, quite patient with Tsuya, and the Dhani of Zinrah, many of whom would insult her, thinking they couldn't hear her, and she rarely even reacted. But somewhere in her strange serpent eyes, there was a great anger, an anger Tsuya knew was caused from a whole life of insults whispered and not, of stray glances and mistrust. She came upon Tinnok slowly, just behind her shoulder, and Tinnok turned to her, pupils the smallest of slivers. She spoke in Myrian, which made Tsuya shiver, knowing she was practicing her Common and only spoke in Myrian when she could not get her point across, knowing the young girl could not speak it, but did understand the language.

"Have you ever watched a jaguar hunt, Tsuya?" The girl paused, the tone of Tinnok's voice had an edge to it, then slowly, shook her head. "A jaguar is a smart creature. It studies its prey, it knows if it is a bird where it might nest, if it is a boar, the best places to rut and lay in the mud. It claims a stake of land as its own, protects it from other cats jaguars, tigers, panthers, and knows every inch of its land. It is beautiful, and must eat, must eat meat." Her face drew close to Tsuya's.

"If you claim you do not have to eat meat, you are lying to yourself. We are predators, just like a jaguar, or a hawk, or the Akila Hound. We need the meat of other things to survive. Caiyha is in tune with Dira, they are Sisters for they both know the meaning of life and that at the end of life comes death. Death has meaning, it means re-joining Dira, the earth's grasp, and the things we kill have served this cycle. That is why I thank Caiyha for every kill I make, for every creature whose life I take is a gift, a gift from her, and I treasure what they, and she has given me. Do not sully her by pretending that this is not the way of the world." She knew that she spoke a bit too fast, a bit too much for Tsuya to understand. She had a good grasp of Myrian, better after the year she spent with Tinnok, but not so much that she was fluent. Regardless Tinnok drew one of her daggers, and grabbed Tsuya's hand roughly, forcing her to hold the blade. "Today, you learn to hunt, you learn what it is to kill your prey."

She would regret her tone, the coldness of her eyes later, for droplets of wetness dripped down the girl's face. Rarely to never had Tinnok ever been so serious with her charge, but she was not a child, however much she sometimes seemed like one, she needed to grow, and to become Caiyha's servant, to become a woman, she needed to know what it was to kill with her own hand.

Without another word the half breed turned and continued down the tunnel, and though at first she was afraid Tsuya was not following her, suddenly she heard halting steps of bare feet on the damp cavern floor, and she only nodded and proceeded forward.c

[Tinnok]

Their journey was quiet from their on in save for the crackling of their torch and the quiet wet slaps of their feet along the cavern. They passed several salamanders, Zinrah Climbers, and though she did not look back she could feel Tsuya tense as they saw each one. They clung lazily to the ceilings or curled up in a relaxed manner around stalagmites. Tinnok barely gave them a second glance. She wasn't sure if she had been too harsh to Tsuya, or that she was a failure for not imparting this lesson upon her much sooner. Either way a combination of determination and anger fueled her. Their prey today would be no Sivler Dart, no Zinrah Climber, not normal snake ling prey, no she was in search of something else.

That being said Tinnok was a decent tracker within the jungle, but down here in the dripping abandoned tunnels of Zinrah, she was more than a bit at a loss. She would find collections of mosses, small hidden streams, sometimes with glowstones, but she did not know what they meant or how they might point her to a larger grouping of Salamanders. As far as she could tell their moods and placement was just arbitrary, wherever they felt like napping or eating.

They walked for silence for more than a bell when it hit Tinnok in a gust of hot air drifting from some vent in the tunnels. Salamanders loved the dampness, but also the heat. She was presented with the option to go down two separate passages and she walked straight into the heat, strides going longer, daring Tsuya not to keep up, but the girl knew her enough by now not to fall behind.

In order not to lose their way the two had determined a solution, rocks with a small bit of mica embedded in them were carried by Tsuya, dropped periodically, a few at the forks in tunnels that would catch the light. She left a small handful at the entrance of this tunnel and followed Tinnok, a knot in her gut, and wetness still on her face, though she wasn't sure if they were tears or simply condensation from above.

After two more forks, the half breed following which ever seemed the hottest, Tinnok stopped at the entrance of a large cavern, that opened up, lit with glow stones to illuminate a tall ceiling and haphazard fallen stones with a large steaming pool of water in its center. Most of the contents were Silver Darts, loving the steam and water, mostly hidden but visible if one paid attention to the texture of the walls in comparison to their sleek smooth silver skin.

But there at the edge of the water lounged a large Plated Salamander. Not the largest, but easily 8 feet long. It was a muddied green, and appeared to be napping. Tinnok doused her torch and wrapped its tip in more bandages to keep it from getting more wet and being able to re-light it on their return home. Then she drew two daggers, eyeing Tsuya who had her third, and gestured for the girl to circle around the sleeping creature.

Tinnok crouched down and began to step forward, slowly placing her feet so as not to make any undue noise. There were the smallest of noises from the wetness of the stones to her feet, but it was not enough to wake the sleeping Plated Salamander. She glanced over to see Tsuya, dagger poised in her hand, unmoving. She waited for the girl's deep green eyes to drift over to hers, then offered her the smallest of smiles, continuing to creep forward. The plates upon the Salamander would make it hard to easily kill it, they had to get to the underside of its neck, chest, and stomach, but the half breed had a plan. Deciding not to leave Tsuya to form a plan of attack, she continued to creep forward, then crouched even more and lunged into the air straight on top of the previously unaware Salamander, landing to straddle its back and screaming at the top of her lungs.
c

[Tinnok]

Tsuya was afraid, nervous, practically quaking, and utterly despondent at what was about to transpire. She kept tears at bay, but she felt as if Tinnok spoke to her again in a similar manner as before they would simply flow out of her eyes like a waterfall, something she was loathe to do in front of the Half breed, for whose emotions...most of the time, seemed to be kept in such check. She remembered meeting the strange undead woman in the woods, and how Tinnok had seemed so brave even though she felt like death and rot had sunk into a singular person. She had saved Tsuya when they had first met, and protected her from the Dhani who looked at her with a gleam in their eyes when they passed through the tunnels.

So when Tinnok gave her the smallest of smiles and lunged like some kind of panther onto the Plated Salamander, she instilled Tsuya with the tiny bit of confidence she needed to run forward brandishing her dagger. Though as she did so...she realized she had no idea what to do...

The Plated Salamander woke with a start, its mouth opening, but no sound coming out as its body flailed to try to get rid of its assailant. Tinnok grinned, clinging to its plates with her elbows and knees, taking one dagger and experimentally trying for its neck, but even though it was not protected by scales in order to move properly, the skin was nearly as hard and thick as them. The good thing about the heavily armored beast was that it was not good at quick or agile movements, not like the Silver Darts, and couldn't buck her off like a horse of Nandhai might.

She glanced over to see Tsuya running towards her and smiled.

"We're going to push him into the water so we can get at his belly!" She cried out. The girl nodded and kept running, when she arrived she charged with one shoulder into the salamander's stomach in an attempt to shove it over the lip of the pool it was lounging upon. It didn't budge, not a bit.

Tsuya looked up helpless, but Tinnok had an idea. The legs of the Salamander were not plated, and poised between its shoulder blades or thereabouts, she leaned over with one of her daggers and sent it driving downwards into its front left foot deep into the scales behind each of its long curved fingers. "Tsuya be ready!" She screamed, for as she stabbed she slid all of her weight to the left side of the beast, starting to slip off the mist covered scales herself. As she had hoped the Salamander gave a long high pitched screech, and its foot slipped into the water and off the ledge. "Push!" She cried, and Tsuya pushed as the Salamander slowly tipped toward the pool, a tiny girl pushing its stomach, a larger woman weighing it down in favor of the pool. A long moment of ticks occurred where it seemed futile, that the creature was too large and weighted for her plan to have worked, then Tinnok tipped more than just her knees slipping, and the whole salamanders flipped back first on top of Tinnok into the pool.

Her tick of elation turned to horror as the creature came down upon her full scaled weight plummeting, even as its feet struggled for it to gain balance, tail thrashing in the water. Tinnok kicked her legs as hard as she could, rolling, but she was not half so nimble in the water as she was on land, and one of those legs became suddenly under the heavy body of the Salamander, even as her hands and neck craned for the surface, only a few feet away, but infinitely out of reach. Bubbles streamed out of her nose, and her hands darted down to grip her trapped leg, pulling futilely, Salamander writhing, but not moving the bulk of its body. She could feel the Salamander's panic, and it resonated within her, heightening her own. What little air she had within her escaped in a panicked scream and then water filled her mouth, true fear setting in.

Tsuya stood above. At first she had given a yelp of victory, but now the ticks passed and Tinnok did not rise triumphant out of the water, and through the thrashing, she could not even see her caretaker. Elation turned to panic, and the girl eyed the dagger clutched within her hands. She didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to do something.

Tinnok began to feel a pain, a burning of her lungs when suddenly the blurry limb filled water turned pink...then Crimson. Somewhere in a blurry world between unconsciousness and the living world she felt a pressure on her foot release as the Salamander gave one last desperate thrash, and she pushed herself weakly, but suddenly knowing to the surface of the water, escaping with a gaping breath.

Tsuya stood above the Salamanders neck, blood covering both of her arms and sprayed across her face, dagger clutched in her hands. She glanced at Tinnok and gave a choked cry, wading around the corpse and circling her arms around Tinnok's neck. Tinnok returned the embrace, her daggers somewhere at the bottom of the pool. "I...I did it Tin...I did it." Tinnok brushed the girl's hair. "You saved my life Tsuya, thank you." She tightened the embrace and the two remained their for a few more ticks before Tinnok retreated and crouched beside the Salamander. She took Tsuya's hand and laid it upon the head of the Plated Salamander. "You put up a worthy fight. May Dira guide you swiftly into your next body. We thank you for the meat and leather you have provided-" "And to Caiyha, for without her this cycle wouldn't exist." Tsuya finished.

Tinnok smiled, then searched for her daggers. They needed to cut up this Salamander and bring him back to the nest after all, and it would be a longer return trip.
c

[Dravite]

Tinnok

XP Award:

• Wilderness Survival, Jungle: 1
• Socialisation: 2
• Rhetoric: 1
• Intelligence: 1
• Teaching: 1
• Hunting: 2
• Leadership: 1
• Philosophy: 1
• Intimidation: 1
• Tracking: 1
• Tactics: 1
• Stealth: 1
• Planning: 1
• Dagger: 1
• Swimming: 1
• Endurance: 2

Lore:

• Tsuya: Has a lot to learn
• Tsuya: A persistant girl
• Caiyha: Dira's sister
• Caiyha: The First Witch
• People need meat to survive
• Animals, Caiyha's gift
• Dira: Queen of the Dead
• Observation: Salamanders prefer humid conditions
• Hunting: Surprise attacks
• A near death experience underwater
• Tsuya: The Huntress
• Religion: Thanking the gods after a successful hunt

Penalties:
Tinnok will feel weak for the next two days.
Tinnok’s ankle will bruise and heal within the week.
Tinnok will have an irritating cough for the next week.
Tinnok may feel some unease around water in future.

Loot:
1 x Dead Salamander for meat and leather.
If Tinnok skins and tans the leather herself it will be no more than scraps and virtually worthless. She can pay a tanner 3 GM to skin and tan the hide for her and keep the meat for cooking and eating, or sell the Salamander whole for 110 GM.

Notes: Hello again, Tinnok (my favourite Tinnok of all time). You covered a lot here in four posts, I hope I touched on everything you were hunting for. I want you to know you're the reason I now have a dangerous obsession with Morphing and sit up all night trying to plot ideas for Dravite to learn such a gift! I love reading you work, this thread was a pleasure to grade. Enjoy the rewards! Let me know if you think I have missed anything or been unfair in any way, and be sure to edit your grading request!

.
.
.