Solo Cloudy Day by the Sea (Part Two)

[Turrin]

Time Stamp: 81th of Summer, 514AV
Location: Unforgiving
Who: Turrin

Turrin wake up. You wanted to wake you up before dawn, Turrin heard Apoinivi's voice in his head and slowly opened his eyes. Everything around him was black accept he did hear the sounds of the birds chirping in the outside. Turrin sat up and ran a hand through his disheveled hair and put on his boots. The endal never slept naked when he was out in the Unforgiving because he never knew when he had to defend himself from a predator. Rolling up his bedroll, he walked outside and noticed Syna was starting to open her eyes because the bottom of the eastern horizon had a twinge of light blue in it. When he looked over at Aponivi, Turrin noticed the wind eagle was doing his morning routine of stretching out his wings before a long flight. The endal paid him no mind as he started to put on his leather armor. When he finished with his armor, he secured the quiver to his back and his talon sword to his waist. Taking out the scabbards for the kukri and throwing ax, Turrin secured them to his waist too. Pouring the rest of last nights boiled water into his skin, the endal decided to head off on his hunt. However, he stopped and contacted Aponivi in his mind, I going to see if I can kill the large rodent for you for dinner, but I will be hunting for deer afterward for the city. If I am not back when you come back to camp. I more than likely killed one. Please come find me.

Aponivi stopped his stretching and said in his mind, Of course, I will look for you, Turrin.

When Turrin was ready to head out, he grabbed his backpack with his rations and water and started his hunt for the badger. The endal knew the wind eagle would be fine without, so he didn't bother saying anything else to his feathered companion when he left camp. As Turrin walked through the darken forest, he noticed the forest was eerier at this time of day. The birds in the trees were quite active, but the lack of light gave the forest a unwelcoming aura. Turrin quickened his pace up river since he didn't want to miss his chance to kill it before it went to sleep. When he got to the pine with the scratch marks, the endal did his best to retrace the trail, but it was hard to see much of anything in this kind of light. The lack of light made it hard to look for the subtle signs of the tracks. However, with each passing moment, the light started to grow more intense in the sky, so eventually the endal had enough light to see the tracks in the soil. Turrin moved slowly down the trail until he eventually came to the badger's hovel. Taking his short bow of his back, he pulled a hunting arrow from his quiver and hid behind a bush and waited for his prey.

[Turrin]

Once Turrin was behind the bush, he kept his head lower than the top of shrubbery and made sure that he had a good few of the badger whole. The endal waited a bell, and he was wondering if he missed the large rodent because Syna was peeking her head on the horizon. Suddenly, a small doe came out of the woods to feed on the tall grass of the clearing. The endal was about to stand up to take a shot at the doe, but he decided to let it be. The hunter knew that he shouldn't shot everything that moves because he wanted to allow his game to grow up, so next time, he encounters the beast it will be larger. However, it was tempting to take his shot at the deer because it would have more meat than the large rodent. Turrin decided to allow the deer to eat in peace. A half a bell pasted away with no signs of the badger. The endal was about to pack up and head back to camp, but the deer rose up it's head, twitched his ears, and ran off into the forest. The myrian looked around the clearing and saw a gray rodent walking through the tall grass.

Smiling to himself, Turrin stood up to take his shot. Widening his stance, the endal's left foot was lined up with badge and horizontal for more stability. It was a good stance for shooting accurately, but if he missed, he wouldn't have enough maneuverability to get a second shot off. Placing the arrow on his bowstring, he lifted his left hand till the metal tip lined up with darker gray in his back. Pulling back the bowstring, Turrin readjusted his shot, so the metal tip was aligned with the back of the badger. Taking in a shallow breath, he released on the exhale and released with a twang. Turrin watched the arrow soar through the air straight and towards the badger. When arrow plunged into the back of rodent, it squealed in pain and rolled around on the ground feebly trying to get the arrow out of it's body. Turrin walked out from behind the bush and walked towards the squealing animal. Putting the short bow on his shoulder, Turrin took out his kukri, put his boot down on the back of the badger, and buried the knife into the back of the neck. It killed the badger after a few ticks. Pulling the knife from the badger, the wiped the blood in the grass.

[Turrin]

Suddenly, the myrian heard hissing from the hole and saw a head of another badger baring his teeth at him. Turrin grabbed the badger corpse by the leg, picked it up, and raised growled loudly at the large rodent in the hole. The badger hissed angrily at him again and ran back into his his hole. Turning his back on the badger hole, Turrin walked back to his camp with a smile on his face. The light of Syna was quickly warming up the morning air and burning away the morning fog. The endal wasn't quite sure what he should do because Aponivi was probably out fishing tuna. Turrin decided that he would try his hand at fishing again; however with the encounter with the bear. He might just play it safe and hunt instead of going fishing. When Turrin got back to camp, he walked over to camp and grabbed his rope. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to do it, but he figure that he should drain the blood from the corpse.

Putting the corpse by a tall tree, Turrin walked to his saddle bag, took the rope from the saddle bag, and walked back to the badger. The endal had fifty feet of rope, so he tied one end to a stick and threw over a branch in the tree. When the stick hit the ground, he tied the rope to the back legs of the fat rodent. Taking out his kukri, Turrin slit the throat of the badger. Seeing the blood ooze out of the slit throat, he walked to the other side of branch and pulled the rope till the badge corpse started to lift into the air. When the badger was seven feet into the air, he tied the other part of the rope to a tree. Turrin checked the tension on the rope. He looked over at the badger and saw the blood was draining nicely onto the ground. He figured the dead animal might attract scavengers, so suspending the animal would keep it safe for now. He hoped.

When he was finished, Turrin decided that the badger could be a good meal for the wind eagle, so he decided to head out again to look for larger game like a deer or elk for the city. Taking a small drink of water, Turrin decided to head back on the trail. Walking through the forest, Turrin decided to follow the small river up stream. He figured that deer needed to drink and eat berries, and the river would be perfect stopping point for the deer to take a break when it was thirsty. When he made it to end of the dirt trail, he noticed at the bottom of the large pines was thick with large three leaf plants. Turrin looked around and noticed the leaves were starting to red in the late summer season. The endal heard of plants that can cause burning if a person touched them with his skin. A few years ago, he saw whole hunting bands literally covered in severe rashes all over their chests, and they warned him to be careful around three leafed plants. Turrin knew that they could have avoided the discomfort wore shirts, but Inarta were proud people especially the males, so he knew his suggestion would fall on deaf ears.

[Turrin]

Turrin knew that he might be alright to head into the grove of three leafed plants with his armor, but he didn't want to take the chance and be sorry, so he decided to walk south through the shrubbery. Brushing branches away from his face, he stayed low as he crept through the thicket. Occasionally, he saw movement under his feet like a tree frog or a small wood snake, but he saw no signs of animal tracks. Eventually, he made it to the other side of bushes and small trees and found a clearing with tall ferns growing threw out it. The endal looked around the clearing and notice that there was a path of trampled ferns running through the middle of it.

Turrin slowly walked to the path and noticed the stalks of the plants were were broken, but the leaves were still green. Rubbing his chin in thought, he wondered if the animal came through here recently. Remembering the small doe, he was curious if that particular animal made the trail, so he knelt down and moved away a fern leaf from the ground. When he did, he noticed a two tracks in the soft dirt. The tracks were four inches with two long vertical dents in the ground with a small circle indent under each of them. Turrin smiled because he knew it was a decent size deer this deer was definitely large enough to bring back Wind Reach.

Looking at the direction the small point of the track was facing, Turrin noticed it was facing left, so he started in the direction of left. When he got out of the grove of fern, he noticed the tracks disappeared. Swearing under his breath, Turrin looked in this general area for about ten chimes, but he eventually saw the tracks reappear next to a thorny plant with brown berries. Walking over, he noticed most of the berries were eaten on on side. Turrin was curious if his possible deer enjoyed eating these type of brown berries. Looking at the tracks, he noticed that it changed direction, so he started heading in that direction. The endal followed the tracks for about fifteen minutes and noticed that the buds of a small tree were eaten off a bush. The end of the stem looked torn from the rest of the branch. He stood up and continued through the forest.

[Turrin]

When Turrin came to a large boulder, he noticed a slight smell in the air. Sniffing the air, Turrin could tell the smell was coming from his right, so he walked to the right and noticed behind the rock was a small pile of black scat. The scat looked stone sized pebbles in a small pile. The endal remembered from the trapping lecture in the fall that animals only shyke in places that they feel comfortable. Putting his hand over the deer droppings, he noticed the scat was still slightly warm. Turrin rubbed his chin and wondered if the animal was around him. Suddenly, Turrin heard the familiar call of wolves in the distance. The hunter froze and felt goosebumps on his arms. The endal knew that he best hurry otherwise the wolves might get to his prey first, but it sounded like the sound came from behind him. They might not be looking for his prey, so he relaxed for a moment and continued through the forest. As he continued farther into the woods, he noticed the original tracks were joined by a second set of tracks of the same animal. Turrin knew that he only needed to shot one otherwise he might anger Caiyha for being greedy if he shot the second. The hunter continued his journey to his unsuspecting victims.

When Turrin walked around a large pine, he noticed two large deer grazing in a small clearing. The endal immediately dropped behind a bush. Looking through a opening in the bush, he noticed one of the deer had a small antlers on the top of his head. The other one was obviously a doe because she didn't have any antlers, so he decided to go after the buck because the doe might be pregnant. Pulling his short bow from his shoulders, Turrin held it with his left hand and pulled out a hunting arrow with his right hand. The endal crawling slowly through the underbrush, but his knee snapped a small twig half way through to his desired spot. Looking up at the deer, they were both stopped grazing and looking in his direction. They must not have spotted him in his camouflage leather armor and being in the thicket, so they went back to their grazing. When they turned his attention away from him, he continued crawling to optimal behind a large oak next to the clearing.

With his back to the truck of the oak tree, Turrin placed the arrow on the bow string and stepped out from behind the tree. The endal had a moment to scan the situation and saw the buck had his head down in the grass. The hunter got into his shooting stance with his front foot out at forty five degree angle to the deer and his back foot was horizontal to the buck. Lifting his left hand, Turrin lined up the metal tip with the front hip of the right leg. Pulling back the bowstring, Turrin readjusted his shot back to the middle of the hip, taking in a shallow breath, and released the bowstring on the exhale.

[Turrin]

When the bowstring released with a twang, the doe lifted her head as the missile streaked by her and towards the buck. Turrin was a competent shot, so the arrow went straight into the front leg. The buck cried out in pain as the doe ran off into the forest. The buck started to limp off in the opposite direction of the doe. The endal saw the buck start to limp off, so he pulled out another arrow from his quiver, placed it on the bowstring, and lifted the metal tipped arrow. The deer was moving, so it would be a harder shoot than the first. Pulling back the bowstring to his cheek, Turrin aimed the arrow at the animal's right buttock.

Turrin took in a shallow breath and released on the exhale. The arrow streaked towards the fleeing deer and sank deeply into the buttock of the beast. Suddenly, the buck turned to charge! Turrin tossed the short bow aside and unsheathed his talon sword. Turrin wasn't going to be bested by a deer, so he widen his legs, so he could jump out of the way of the charging deer. The buck stamped his front legs and awkwardly charged the endal. Turrin started to count up to five, and when the deer brought down his antlers, the endal jumped out of way and slashed across the front leg off the deer.

Turrin heard the deer cry out in pain and landed into the thicket with a crash. The endal got off the ground and walked towards the struggling deer. The deer had a large gash in his leg where the talon sword connected. When he got closer, the myrian said a prayer to Caiyha in common, “Thank you blessed goddess of nature...I promise you that your child will not be wasted...” Turrin lifted his talon sword over his head with both hands and plunged it deep into the neck of deer. The myrian watched the deer stiffen as it tried to struggle for life, but it finally lost the battle with Dira with a couple of violent twitches. Pulling his sword from the deers neck, Turrin noticed the deer was a decent size maybe over a hundred pounds. It would be fine carrying over short distance, but it would be to much for him to carry long distance.

Turrin looked at the arrows and noticed both of them were snapped by the fall. He didn't mind since the city will provide him with new ones when he got back to the city. Wiping off the talon sword on the deer, Turrin sheathed his sword and looked over the large dead animal at his feet trying to decide what to do next. Turrin grabbed the hind legs off the deer and started to pull the corpse into the middle of the clearing. The hunter picked up his short bow and waited for Aponivi to come and find him.

[Turrin]

As Turrin stood guard over his kill, the hunter could see vultures starting to circle in the sky above him. He knew that he couldn't kill them if they landed, but he would try to scare them off. Eventually, he saw the flock off vultures scattered in every direction when a massive eagle appeared in the sky. Turrin looked up when he saw the shadow circling him and saw the brilliant white head of Aponivi. When the eagle landed about twenty feet away from him, Turrin walked up to him and said out loud with a smile, “Did you land a tuna, Aponivi?”

Aponivi let out a loud squawk and replied, Yes, it is stinking up the camp as we speak. We should break camp and get it back to Thunder Bay before it spoils...I see you caught a deer. Wind Reach will be eating good the next couple days.

Aponivi walked over to the deer, put a claw over it, and said to Turrin, I will meet you back at camp. By the way, thank you for supper. When I finish eating, we will head back to the city.

When Aponivi flew away with the deer, Turrin started back to camp with a smile on his face. He did his duty and the people of Wind Reach won't go hungry for another day. Unfortunately, the game was getting scares around the mountain, so the Endal had to move farther and farther away from the city to catch food. The dangers of the Unforgiving were always there. When Turrin made it back to camp, he saddled Aponivi, took down his tent, and started to pack up his saddle bags. He untied the badger and gave it to Aponivi allowed him to eat as he ate some stale rations. When Aponivi was finished his supper, Turrin got onto his mount and took off towards Thunder Bay.

[Zhol]

GRADE AWARDED!

Turrin

 

Rewards

Experience

• +2 Hunting
• +2 Observation
• +2 Stealth
• +2 Tracking
• +2 Weapon: Shortbow
• +1 Weapon: Talon Sword
• +1 Wilderness Survival

Lores

• Animal: Deer
• Bow: Always remember to breathe
• Caiyha: showing respect for the goddess and her creatures
• Hunting: Sparing an animal that isn't full grown
• Tracking: The deeper the prints, the larger the prey
• Wilderness Survival: Stringing up a corpse to keep it safe from scavengers
• Wilderness Survival: Being cautious of stinging plants

Other Rewards

• None

 

Consequences

Injuries

• None (phew!)

Expenses

• None

 

Comments

Feedback

I love the way you use metaphors and language in your post. My favourite was that the animal didn't just die: it "lost the battle with Dira". There's a real sense of atmosphere, and you always demonstrate a really good understanding not just of Mizahar lore but of how the skills really work as well.

A couple of language slip-ups in this one, though; make sure you give your posts a quick read-through when you're done to check it reads the way you intended it to sound. I usually proof-read after I've submitted, so that I'm giving it a fresh look on my post template rather than staring at the same text box I've just been writing in.

Please delete/edit your grade request, and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions about your grade!