Solo Hunting around Lhavit

[Arinia]

Hunting Outside of Lhavit 50th of winter, 514AV The moon rose with a lethargic crawl among the mountains of Kalea, during her time here the lone wolf had learn all to true that the region was home to daunting peaks, and active volcanoes. This was home to Mizahars largest mountains, and it was a terrain Arinia grew to love, even if it was different from the massive Talderian Forest she called home. With the moons rise animals that also called this region their home rose, all manors of beast and fauna awake, from the elusive bobcats to the lumbering bears, and even other wistful wolfs. Though Arinia probably even a bit prideful knew she would be the biggest things awakening tonight. The Talderian wolf stretched before looking around and observing the cave she calls home, currently it was completely unadorned with only a small fire pit created for nights Arinia chose to sleep in her humanoid form, which currently wasn’t very often in the cold winter nights. Arinia found herself thinking of home, and her family. She could always curl with them in order to stay warm, while here, she was alone. It was probably the thing she missed most. Slowly the wolf rose looking at the gray stone walls, her stomach assaulted her almost as soon as she had moved. It has been far too long sense she had a large enough meal, always fearing she will be found and blamed for loss of wildlife. Though it was now time to eat her fill. She knew if she was to go into the wilderness there would be much less chance of being discovered. Her bedding was down a natural hall like corridor, as she walked her form shifted. In the wolfs place now walking with the same measured, stalking, gate was a woman. As usual Arinia was bare after a shift, once she got to the front of her cave she got a drink from a fresh spring, and adorned her simple clothing, almost no more than cloth trousers, and a wrapping of leather for modesty. Normally she wouldn’t bother, but her path takes her close to Lhavit and she doesn’t want people to assume she is some nudist. Nor, would she want a Shinya to see her beast form, and feel the need to rid the wilds of it. As soon as her clothing was donned, and she was prepared she took off, currently she just ran, her bare feel crushing the forest floor. She would dodge branches, jump over log, and dive through openings as needed, paying no true heed to where she was going. Her sense of direction was on, she was heading north, and that’s all she needed. As her eyes adjusted to the evening’s dim glow she could make out signs of animals as she ran. She decided she would scale some of the mountainous regions in search of her prey tonight. As Arinia ran she was heading up the mountain, she was very careful to pay close attention to all her limbs, her coordination helping her, she would run at abandon, once to get up a cliff easier she vaulted up branches of a tree, almost falling twice, and grab the edge of the cliff just barely before pulling herself up out of breath. The moon was higher in the sky, and the sun had completely vanished. She looked up, yet again developed in her favorite times, the night, and under the moon. It caused her to remember her father and his teachings. She bowed her head, and said a silent prayer, remembering, always to thank the gods, and wish them luck with her hunts. Never would she forget the losses she had endured on many of them. Arinia looked around, and realized she was freezing. This wasn’t a terrain she was used to, the mountains were steep, and the wind was killing. She loved the city but in the past weeks she has been hesitant to enter, mostly choosing to remain alone. Maybe it was time to change all this. But, she could only do one thing at a time, and currently her stomach chose that to be food. Knowing even with all her running, and activity the cold could very well kill her she felt she had no choice but to shift. Believing she was far off enough from the majority of civilization she started to disrobe, depositing her clothes in a safe location she then allows her body to go through a change she has grown accustom to and learned to love. The fur around her was greatly welcomed, the cold now providing very little problem. It was only now Arinia found herself having another problem, the ledge witch once fit her human form fine now barely held her in this form. Now not only did she have to worry about the cold in her human form, but her size, for the first time in her life, was actually a handicap in this terrain. Arinia being used to the changing situations of the hunt knew she would have to think carefully about how to handle this objective. She knew she could periodically shift her form, but she would have to be careful, the last thing she needed was to fall, break a leg, and die in the cold. As she was thinking she yet again felt her stomach rumble. She needed to get on the move. The wolf slowly worked her way away from the ledge and along the tree line, she knew the Shinya still patrolled the misty peaks, and now, in either form, she could very well be an interesting sight. Arinia knew she was probably far enough away from the city to start her hunt, the wolf took a very human like sign, pulled in a breath, and let out a piercing howl break into the night. The eerie sound echoed through the trees and was even echoed back by some of the other wolfs. She was now ready, the musical chorus had been started, and although it wasn’t best for stealth, it was her instinct, and she damn well loved the sound. Besides, her form already compromised her stealth. She had to think carefully about how she would handle this, her prey was probably on the high peaks, within the tree line. Tonight she would be hunting Elk, a large species of dear growing around four foot at the shoulder. She knew the animal would keep her fed for a while, but also decided there was something better, it would aid her with. She knew on average a non Talderian elk could way three hundred pounds, and more. The meat would spoil before she could eat it all. To her this meant she could attempt to sell it, as well as any intact fur, and if she was lucky, a bulls antlers. Besides, she would have to go into the city for supplies one day, might as well try. Arinia not taking long to think about how this would work started to find her way to the higher peaks, her wolf form definitely proved her fears, the paths were not meant for her size, and the trails were slippery. Lucky she managed to avoid falling, though she worried her size would call notice of the other animals. Luckily, she had skills other predators hunting tonight would not. First she would go with her normal, predatory, talents, slowly she would examine her area, looking for tracks, proof of an animal that was once here. Shortly her examination proved fruitful, as she found hooved tracks, marking her prey. Following the limitations sight provided her, she closed her eyes and smelled, she took in the whiff of the trees, the odor of hot springs, and… she smelled again, the scent of her prey. Her head cocked towards the west, actually a little down the mountain. In the more alpine region. She realized she had gotten lucky, not only would the ground be more level, but she had actually worked her way higher than animal. She knew she would have to work fast, otherwise they would get away, especially with her size. She needed everything on her side. Arinia knew she only had one option, and that was to call her Djed. She knew the basics of Auristics and Reimancy, both of which her mother taught her how to use during a hunt. Though she knew without a doubt she would have to be careful, the magic could easily tire her out and provide useless if she was to warn down to chase the animal. It was only now that Arinia found herself wishing she knew how to make traps. Setting something up, and then chasing the animal into it would prove very useful in such a setting. But, she never needed it before, the size of the wilderness she was used to easily allow her to run and be stealthy. She left a not to self, buy traps next visit to Lhavit. Arinia again smelled the air, and as she walked towards the direction of the scent she allowed her Djed to be free. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. When her eyes opened again the world around her had changed. Not in ways one might expect, but the world now glowed to Arinias keen glare. Every living thing around her had a colorized shade around it, many were small, but she knew what she was looking for. The aura of a sentient being was larger, even for a simple animal. Although nothing popped out at her, she thought she could see the wisps of a more clever animal in the distance. Another whiff of the air provided that it was indeed in the same direction. Arinia started to feel weary, and even a little disoriented, and immediately dropped her sight. For a second she leaned her full mass upon a tree, allowing herself to catch her breath. Arinia soon found herself at the edge of the clearing, in front of her was the herd of elk. She knew there would be no way to sneak up on them, once she leaves the clearing, the chase was on. She had to make it count. Slowly she observed the herd, the bull, or most presumably the bull, was close to the middle of the herd, and would be difficult to catch at this distance, so she decided against it. Looking around she saw what looked to be a pregnant female. She knew it would provide an easy chase, assuming she can stir up the rest of the herd to run off and leave it. Working fast Arinia burst from the tree line in to the more solid ground alpine, she still needed to be careful, for there was a cliff edge to her right hand side, but she worked fast. Running strait at the herd she chased different once causing the animals to go into a confusion. Although they might have been used to wolves normally, they were not used to such a large predator. Arinia was chasing a young male when she say the pregnant female struggling, without a second though she turned, sliding a bit on the cold ground, and charged the helpless animal. The hunt ended quickly. The chase did not last long, and all it took was one bite for Arinia to snap the elk’s throat. After she had her prey dead at her feet the wolf looked up at the moon, and just as her father taught her, said yet another silent prayer to her gods. As the prayer ended she again took in a deep breath, and let out a howl. She was finish, at least for now. But, she knew this wouldn’t be her only kill tonight. It was more difficult that Arinia would have expected, before she and her pack would use a sleigh or something to get such a beast home, now she had to find another way. It took her time to figure out how to loosely tie her clothing around herself, loose enough that it would fit her when she changed, and also allow the beast to be stationed upon the wolfs back. Arinia had to take her time, dragging the corpse home in order to prepare it. Normally she would just eat it as is, but sense she wished to sell parts she needed to clean it, and scalp its hide. Arinia set upon her task delicately, having an area in her cave that she shall forevermore use as food storage and cleaning. It would be surprising just how difficult it is to go about cleaning and skinning an animal, Arinia first had to get it to a river, where she could then go about her messy task. She was kind of disappointed that she would not end up with antlers to sell, seeing as she bagged a female, but she got enough meat, and excluding a bit of the fur that her jaw tore the animal was rather clean. In the end she ended up with just under two hundred pounds of meat, half of which she designated to herself, and she would have to preserve with salts, the rest she knew could be taken to town tomorrow. One she was done Arinia got rid of the remains, and ate her fill before starting the task of stalking out her claimed territory.