Completed Shopping and Trapping

[Rayt]

Spring 35, 517

Rayt yawned and rubbed his eyes in bed, said good morning to Henry and got dressed for the day. It was the break of dawn, and today he wanted to get some traps for rodents around the wilds. He would need their meat to train his barn owl Henry. He would try to train his barn owl, although he didn't have confidence in any success. Owls had an odd personality in comparison to falcons or ospreys. They were more prone for mischievous behaviors and disobedience. Henry was a friend, but Rayt never attempted to train Henry. Rayt would deal with training tomorrow though. Rayt walked down one of the halls of the wolf's cave and to The Watering Hole. Rayt was amazed when he asked about the price of a loaf of bread and the soft spoken woman told him it was only five copper mizas. He gladly paid the price for the bread and asked for some fresh water to lay out for Henry and a glass for himself. Water was free! Rayt went back to the room and laid out the water for Henry, petted the owl and went out into the city of Alvadas. He figured he would wander the streets until he found a shop suiting his needs. To trap rodents, he would need traps. Rayt wandered the streets of Alvadas and gasped as he turned to make a left and met a river of fire. Startled he stepped back quickly and observed the street. It seemed impassable and so Rayt, discouraged moved away from the street and turned onto another.

The street Rayt turned on was cobblestone, much better than fire. "You think a street on fire would garner some emergency attention" Rayt muttered under his breath as no one seemed disturbed or even interested in this particularly dangerous circumstance. Rayt tapped a woman on the shoulder and asked her where he could find goods like traps. The woman, a young blonde maybe 20 in age smiled and ran down the road of fire. Rayt tried to stop her but the woman danced over the flames as if they weren't there until the flames swallowed her. Rayt stood and stared at the road once more for chimes upon chimes before he shook his head and muttered again to himself, "Forget it Rayt, it's Alvadas." Rayt had heard from chatter around the wolf's cave that this was called 'the City of Illusion'. The name seemed to fit he realized as he made his way aimlessly through the streets. He couldn't make heads or tails of what was real and what was not sometimes when he was venturing out of the city. Rayt just hoped that somewhere there was a trading outpost or area he could find some traps. Rayt took a few breaths and continued on his way.

He asked a few people, some didn't know where he could go, some he wasn't even sure were real. Finally Rayt heard a raucous sound coming from down one street. He turned down the street he heard the noise and found a small building. Ready to scream out in frustration a man opened the door and a loud commotion could be heard until he closed the door and the building died down to a low roar. Occasionally the sound would erupt audible enough to hear. Rayt decided he would open the door and walked into a reasonably large room full of people. He saw stands and stalls selling odd shaped fruits and vegetables, gleaming daggers, jewels he had never seen before, books, and even bustiers. He scanned each stall wandering from one to the other looking for any items he could use, in particular traps. Rayt finally came upon a stall adorned with traps and nets and scent vials. "Hello, I am in the market for a brazier, the cheapest you have, a hunting knife, and five tiny animal snares. And I'll give you ten gold mizas for the lot". The shopkeeper shook his head after laying all the items on the stall counter, "You'll give me fifteen gold mizas boy". The shopkeeper was gruff and Rayt decided not to push the issue and nodded digging out fifteen gold mizas, feeling like he was getting taken for a ride. "Thank ye' very much son". The shopkeeper said laughed as Rayt walked away and Rayt grumbled under his breath.

As Rayt left the Bizarre a hand grasped his shoulder and a sweet looking old woman with silver-gray hair and wrinkles upon wrinkles on her weathered face. She was smaller than Rayt, maybe standing all of five feet. The elderly woman held an object that looked like an egg with a short spout sprouting off the egg and the whole item was riddled with holes. The woman handed Rayt the object and it felt wooden. It was brown with dark and light bands of wood in concentric circles tracing all over the strange object. "It's an ocarina, you look like you could use music in your life dear" the old woman said. Rayt shook his head, "I've no need of an instrument ma'am" Rayt said trying to hand it back to the woman. The woman shook her head and stepped back refusing to take the ocarina from Rayt, "please please, just ten gold mizas and you can have" the old woman pleaded with Rayt. Rayt shook his head and lurched forward holding out the instrument, "I'm sorry, I don't even know how to play this blasted thing" Rayt exclaimed frustrated now that the woman was refusing to take the instrument back and trying to sell it to him. The old woman smiled and then shrugged , "keep it then sonny" she said and quickly made her way through the bizaar. Rayt held the instrument in his hands and sighed taking the ocarina and placing them with his other items in his back pack. It was several chimes before he realized he had been pick pocketed. When coming to the bazaar he had brought a number of gold mizas, and the rest he left at home. He also brought his silvers and coppers with him to buy his wares and after all his purchases, if he remembered correctly, he thought he had fifty golds, nine silvers and ninety five coppers. Rayt now had no money with him. Looking back at the bazaar he couldn't help if the old woman was just a distraction and gritted his teeth, "Well...that was an expensive chunk of wood I just bought..."

[Rayt]

Rayt carried the load to The wolf's cave and set up a trap in his room loading it with some crumbs of bread. He was hoping to catch some rodents in the trap. He secured Henry to his perch by his jesses so he wouldn't be tempted to hurt himself by trying to go in the trap, or to set off the trap by accident. Next He set up a trap just outside the wolf's cave in hopes a rat would make it's way through the streets. He again left some of the bread in the trap and set it making his way through back to his room. Rayt looked at the three remaining traps and grabbed them up, slinging his bow and grabbing five arrows to carry with him. Rayt made his way to the common area where a stranger spotted him and made a simple comment, "going to hunt one of them deers that are migratin'?" The stranger piqued Rayt's interest. "What are you talking about sir?" The stranger was pale with golden eyes and black greasy hair. "There's a herd of deer tearing up the place that been migratin' outside the city. I 'spect they'll be gone soon. Thought ye might be out fer huntin' one of them" the stranger had some sort of accent he couldn't place but this information was well received. He would go out in the wilderness and hunt a deer. I'll set my three traps out there and if I could bag a deer I could sell some meat and still have enough to feed me and Henry and keep some training incentives for him! Excitedly Rayt made his way through the city and through the Gaping Maw in search of the deer herd.

Rayt set his three traps near the Gaping Maw and baited them with bread. His backpack held the five arrows and his bow as he went to work on the task of tracking the animals. The stranger he got the information from did not know exactly where the herd was. A rumor...from a man in Alvadas. If this was a wild goose chase he would...well he would do something!! Rayt wandered through the wilderness searching for any clues as to animals trapsing through the wilds. It was several bells before Rayt realized one crucial detail he had forgotten about this little venture. He had no idea what he was doing. He bent down to look at an animal track. It wasn't a hoof print that much he was certain but he couldn't tell what animal left it. Even if it were a hoof print he wouldn't have been sure if it were a deer or an elk or a three eyed monster. Rayt shook his head and decided he would go back to the city. It's too dangerous to be out here without knowing what I'm doing...I should find someone who knows more than me if I am to go hunting and tracking...like a mentor. he nodded to himself as he was sure he was making the right call and headed back to Alvadas.

At dusk he checked each of the traps and was satisfied when he found two traps each holding one trapped rat. He took his newly purchased hunting knife and speared each of the rats to kill them without struggle. He hated to see animals in pain or struggling. Rayt found it cruel in an unspeakable way to prolong suffering. He brought the rat carcasses inside his room in the caves and started to work on them. He started with skinning the rats and cutting the tail off. The fur and tail had no use for him and though he was sad that it had to go to waste there was no helping it. The meat however would be put to use. He sliced each rat in two. There wasn't much meat on either of the scrawny things. He carved out enough meat to make four chunks and stored them in his back pack for later. Tomorrow he would attempt to train Henry. It would be a short session but at least it would give him an opportunity to bond with the barn owl.

[Faradae]

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