A hunt gone awry (Solo)

by **Kalik** on February 12th, 2012, 5:45 pm

48th of winter, 512 A.V.

Kalik was riding on his horse down the valley of two mountains in the northern reaches. The sun was beginning to make its way down for the night and it was time to find an encampment for the night. It was cold as it always was in these lands, but his sight of the land today was great as he rode between the snow drifts in this valley. Kalik arrived at the side of one of the mountain sides, the fir tree's here began to become less as the rocky mountains steep grade raised into the air. Bringing the great frostmarch to a stop, Kalik undid his binds to the saddle, and grabbed the side of the horse while he held himself getting off the horse. Taking a piece of his light rope he tied the horse to a nearby tree, deciding in this area the best spot to camp would be under the great tree's in the valley.

Kaliks horse laid down, knowing very well as usual this was it's time to rest and that they would not be moving on for a few days now. The young man took a moments break, petting the horse as he gave it a portion of food set aside for the steed. While the horse ate, Kalik removed the tarp from the horses pack and began unrolling it under 2 large tree's. The tarp covered the space between the two tree's well fitting it like a carpet. Taking the poles to the tent, the man forced them into the pact snow, being sure that they were the right length apart to hold the tent up. The first time he put the poles in the length was too short between them, so he redid it so that they were as far as they could be while still connected providing the tension needed to keep the cloth from caving in from any snow. Finally placing the tent fabric up on the poles within a few minutes, his home for the next for days was complete it was time to focus on what he needed for the hunt.

Speaking to himself to note what needed to be done Kalik said “Well it is time to gather some wood, need to keep warm and I need a rack to deal with any animals I catch.” Deciding wood was the most important at the moment, he grabbed for his axe lying with the rest of his equipment in the tent and began searching for a smaller tree, but one with wood suitable for the tasks he intended it for. Kalik walked slowly examining the many tree's around him, but soon found one that had been too weak for the snow it had been carrying on it's branches and fell at some point. This made it easy for him, he would not need to cut a tree down just to cut it into manageable pieces. Lifting the axe above his head, he struck at the end of the log succeeding in chipping it, he repeated this four times before he had broken off a piece of wood. This motion became instict after a while, not having to really focus on the log he thought of his father. He had died when Kalik was but 15 years of age, Kalik remembered how that night he was off in the forest, one much like where he stood now but without as much snow on the ground and he shot his bow hitting the tree. After the shot he remembered hearing metal clash, he ran back towards camp to see what the noise was. Kalik now stopping chopping wood in horror of his memory saw in his mind as a bandit thrusted his sword through his fathers heart. Saddened now by the reminder of his fathers death, he began carrying the chopped logs back to camp, there was just enough to make two trips but it was all he would need for the night.

By now the sun was behind the mountain and there was only a sliver of light coming over the top where the last of the sun was disappearing. It was a beautiful sight but in the wilderness all it meant for someone surviving was that it was when the predators came out, but Kalik knew the wolves in these mountains feared fired and he would be safe with a small campfire. Digging a circle down in the snow to prevent wind from touching the fire he placed 3 splits of a log and began clashing his flint and steel together to get a spark. It was cold, and his fingers did not want to co-operate so he sat there for almost 10 minutes fumbling before he got a good enough spark to light the logs but it was well worth it, for he deffinetly felt the warmth that he now basked in right outside his tent. Reaching into his bag Kalik pulled out a slab of salted meat, one of the few he had but he needed a meal tonight he had not had more then bread in the time between his loss of equipment the week before now. Turning the stick he watched as the meat began to change color, turning into a pinkish red. As the meat became more medium he backed it away from the fire blowing on it, one perk of these cold lands is once you cook food you don't need to wait long before it is cool enough to eat. This meal was great for Kalik, savoring the meat he had just cooked he took small bites trying to make the taste last longer in his mouth. It was no prime meat, but after eating bread for so long it tasted like one to him. Kalik opened the tent, entering and removing his top layer of clothing, then wrapping himself in his cloak laid down and quickly fell asleep.

by **Kalik** on February 12th, 2012, 5:46 pm

Day 2

Kalik sat up feeling great after the nights sleep, the sun was shining through the tent and made everything in the tent look much more defined. The young man was eager to hunt today, he had been in town the day before last and traveling to get away from civilization for the rest of that time. Here is where he felt at home, alone in the wilderness with his horse. People were something Kalik never quite seemed to like being around they were always so concerned with themselves, which made sense of course but Kalik did not like being around this type of mentality. He knew very well that his own importance was mainly himself and his horse, but the idea of living off of others misfortune was
not his fancy. Being raised by a merchant he saw that lying to get a good deal was how people survived in the towns of this world. Kalik was much more simple then all this, he thought you should be able to provide for yourself. Kalik's pastime was to hunt, which provided for him and was the only thing that made sense to him. The biggest thing that seperated civilization from Kalik is that it was people, not natural death that took his father from him and this clouded him to thinking most people were like those that killed his father,willing to do whatever benefits themselves over the next guy.

Rubbing his eyes he began putting on his over clothing to protect himself from the cold of the northern reaches. Today was fairly warm here for the winter though, it was 16 degrees which compared to most days was great. Grabbing his quiver and bow Kalik went over to his equipment grabbing his traps. If he were to go hunt for bigger game he may as well have traps set at the camp incase he gets himself a smaller treat such as a rabbit. Taking the larger of the 3 snares he placed it about 20 feet away from where his horse could go, if something were to threaten his horse while he was gone hopefully it would be careless and get trapped, If not his horse knew what was a threat to it and could hopefully protect itself. Setting the other two traps near his tent, where animals would most likely come for food he had finished preparing the camp for his departure of the day. Deciding to walk east today he walked away from the closest mountain towards the center of the valley, there was a small frozen stream running through the valley which once he arrived at he followed figuring it would be the easiest path to retrace. Wolves were far from uncommon in these areas, but few people traveled the wilderness of these lands so it made their pelts worth a decent amount. Kalik even though not usually worried about currency knew he needed to have some sort of income for emergency. Walking upstream, the thin ice began cracking and Kalik felt a chill of cold water rush against his leg, it was best not to get wet in this temperature so he stepped off the stream following it on it's tiny bank instead. The steepness of the stream came to a flat grade and Kalik could now see the large frozen lake in which the valleys peak spot was at. It was a beautiful sight, there was crystal like ice everywhere with the sun's reflection and tree's with a fresh coat of snow covering them. More importantly, there was a source of water meaning there was game to hunt.

Deciding to make his way towards the edge of the lake, the hunter saw a wolf picking at the corpse of something in the distance. Finally I found you! Kalik crouched in the snow slowly moving forward to get a better angle on the feasting ground of this wolf, while he moved to a better spot he knocked an arrow to be ready for a shot if the beast managed to see him before he got into position. Luckily for Kalik the wolf was very focused on it's meal and he got to get a really nice spot on it. Getting a closer look he saw the wolf was fairly small, not even an adult yet but it's fur was still nice and if it was eating now he knew it would be a good meal later. With his arrow ready in the weapon, Kalik pulled back on the string aiming towards the wolf and then he heard a snap. The string had broken leaving Kalik not only out of his weapon, but the wolf looked up in his direction noticing the large sound of the string breaking. Knowing there was not enough time to string another bow he took the thick string in his gear and held it between his hands, if he were to survive the wolf attacking him he would need some sort of weapon but Kalik had never really dealt with close combat before making this very scary. By now the wolf was pacing it's way over to where the noise had come from growling when it heard Kaliks movement to grab his gear, hearing this the wolf got a bit faster coming over to the mound Kalik hid behind. If the hunter was to win this he would need to use the element of suprise having himself behind the mound. The wolf made it clear where he was with another growl, it began to slowly come around the mound but Kalik expected this crawling above the mound, jumping towards the wolf he took the string under it's muzzle and pulled up as hard as he could when he knew the string was under the wolfs neck. Struggling the wolf tried flailing about and eventually threw Kalik off of it. The hunter was now on his back with the wolf over him, snapping at his neck in turn. Acting at this point with no thought other then getting himself distanace between the wolf and him he attempted backing up but the wolf kept coming over him faster. Wait, it's neck is bleeding. Kalik thought to himself. Punching at the wolfs neck, it yelped backing up for a second give Kalik time enough to grab his hunting knife. It was not a good weapon, but it would do better then a piece of string or his fists. The wolf knowing it was now or never, went for the man again but this time Kalik slid the knife into the neck of the wolf, just above where it's other wound was, as he did this he took his other hand grabbed the wolf and pushed it to the side.

by **Kalik** on February 12th, 2012, 5:46 pm

Adrenaline pumped through Kalik, he was now shaking and breathing heavily. The wolf was dead now, it lay on the ground blood coming out of it's neck and it stopped movement completely. This was not the way Kalik expected to catch this wolf. He had realized his mistake though, he had not taken care of his equipment and in when he needed it most it broke. The change of weather from being in town until now should have been a prompt for him to change his bow string, which he was now doing with haste in the event that any more wolves were around to avenge there brothers death. Kalik took a breather, gathering his equipment and lifting the wolf over his shoulder. Today's walk was done he expected the hunt to be longer, but only because he did not expect to find game so quickly. Walking back the wolf was heavy on him, the dead were never light. As Kalik walked through the path he had made on his way here the sun was making it's way to the peak of the sky. Kalik thought I hope one of the traps had gotten something. Arriving at the camp, he was glad to see his horse was fine but the traps had yielded nothing. This was ok though, it was still early in the day and there was much time for the traps to do there job. Kalik placed the wolf down in the snow as he then went to gather more wood. Kalik was no carpenter or woodworker but he knew how to make a flat surface, taking his axe he began carving one of the larger piece of wood on the top to turn the curve into a flat spot in which he could work on the wolf with more ease. Struggling with the axe, this was not a thing Kalik was used to doing before now he had his own folding table but he had lost that too and was not able to find one suitable for travel in town. The axe kept getting stuck in the wood as he scraped it but getting frustrated Kalik pushed harder finally getting the last piece of the log on a straighter level. Digging out a hole to match the size and shape of the logs underside he then placed the log there, this would act as a table for his time in this camp.

The wolf was soon placed on the table as Kalik prepared his knife for the process of gutting and skinning the wolf, a task he was familiar with compared to the rest of his days events so far. Pushing the wolf to it's side Kalik then lifted the hind leg on top of the wolf, take the knife to the wolf's anus. Being sure not to cut the knife so deep as to hit the intestines Kalik began cutting the wolf open when he finally saw below the opening of the rectum, he noticed the intestine and knew if he did not take care of that before cutting further as he did last time it would be a shitty mess as he had done before, this was meant literally. The last time he had cut a wolf open he was careless and just cut the entire thing open to begin what he needed to do, but had forgotten to take care of the intestines before doing cuts to the body, and when he had released the tension of the upper skin applying pressure to the intestine fecal matter had began flowing out onto the table and all over Kalik. He was not exactly ready for this to happen again so using the string he had earlier choked the wolf with, he tied the ends to the intestines as he would a coin pouch in a trade session and detached the smelly organ from the wolf disposing of it into a spot that would be for any unusable parts in the process of taking care of the wolf. Now the wolf had an opening, and the worst part in Kaliks opinion was taken care of, seeing the connection of all the layer Kalik now knew the exact position of the layers, and slid the knife between the pelt of the wolf and it's body under the skin, slowly sliding it on the resistant connection as he disconnected the skin from the rest of the wolf. Going around the body as such he had after about half an hour gotten the first layer done, he took the skin and let it rest on a log sitting near him. Before he did this next step he would need to grab a container for what he wanted to keep. Going over to his bag he grabbed the large bag of salt, and a small leather bag he had used to hold preserved meats. Now cutting right down the middle of the wolf where it was mostly cartilage like inbetween the ribs, he had opened all the internals of the beast. Removing the heart, he had walked it over to the larger of the traps he had placed, and put it there incase anything wanting a meal could come and become his meal. The rest of the wolf was good for eating, there was the outer meat and muscle that he would preserve and the rest of the body he could dispose outside of his camp for any larger creature such as a bear. Laying the meats on the table he quickly disposed of the body and came back for the last step in this endeavor. He rubbed salt over the meat until he knew each piece would be preserved and last until he wished to cook it, and placed them one at a time in the bag filled with meat he had previously caught or gotten in town for the time he would be in the wilderness. After all this he rolled up the skin as you would a roll of cloth and tied it to his pack, he would hopefully be adding to this collection before he made his way to another town. Kalik decided he would stay this last night in the camp and move on earlier then usual he was going to make his way south out of the snow lands into the great forest and see what he could find there that is rare but his ultimate goal was to make his way into the region of sylira surely he could get a good price for pelts there. If there was one thing he learned from his father is you get the best deals on something the farther away from where it is found. Grabbing a piece of bread and laying down near his horse he began to eat and drift off into thoughts and dreams of his own to pass by the day.

by **Echelon** on March 18th, 2012, 6:56 pm

Adventurer's Loot

A Gift
Experience is it's own reward.

Kalik's Loot :

(This wasn't very fun to read. I can say you have potential though, so it wasn't painful by any means. First, you need to watch your tense. Second, your knowledge of wilderness survival is a bit lacking, researching ti will make your threads more fun to read and get you more xp. Wolves don't travel alone unless they are injured or dying. It's colder than that in the Northern reaches in the winter, that is more summer temperature. There are no "towns" in Mizahar, only the major cities. You need more than just salt to preserve meat for any amount of time, though in that climate it's a lot easier. You need smaller kindling to sue flint and still to start a fire. You can not burn living wood without giving ti some time to dry out, so use dead wood next time. Horses can, and do usually sleep standing up. That said kudos on taking a while starting the fire, i was impressed with the string breaking on the bow, was pleased when no animals wondered in the snares. It shows you are a good story teller, and realistic. This is great! Work out some of the logistics and be more descriptive and your threads will be great.) - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.