Solo Coming Up Empty Handed (Solo)

[Duron]

Time Stamp: 20th of Summer, 515AV

Smelling the salty air of the dense coastal forest, Duron knelt down to examine the remnant of a mud puddle. The akalak cared little for dirt, but he did care about the numerous indentations in it left by various four legged passerbyes. Ever since he was employed by Kavala Denusk, the akalak hunter hasn't had any luck bringing back any kills for the Sanctuary. It was frustrating to say the least, and Aferan had been nagging him for days to just give up for the season and focus on his duties in the farming compound. Swiftly as it was suggested by Aferan, Duron immediately dismissed the somewhat logical advice of his dark brother suggested and stubbornly continued to hunt without any success. Staring at the tracks, the cerulean picked up a small twig. Duron used the twig in his hand to measure the depth of the longer track and smaller tracks. He came up with the conclusion since the tracks were deeper in the back by sticking the twig into the indentation. The animal must support the majority of it's weight in the back legs because it had a deeper indentation. The smaller tracks must be created by the front legs because they were shallower in the dirt than the larger tracks. According to the tracks, the smaller tracks were heading towards the the thicket since the larger tracks were behind the small tracks.

Standing up, Duron followed the tracks to the edge of the shallow grass and noticed the tracks led him into the thicket. The akalak noticed the ground was littered with three leaved plants of all shapes and sizes, so the blue man bite his lip and pondered if it was worth trudging into the thicket after a small animal. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Duron saw rodent about a foot long with long ears, a egg shaped body, long back legs, and a puff ball for a tail walk out of the thicket and started to munch on some grass. The akalak figured the animal was some sort of rabbit or other rodent. As the rabbit started to eat some clovers, the akalak widened his stance and slowly lifted his spear over his shoulder. Aiming the metal tip at the egg shaped body of the rodent. The akalak brought the metal tip of the spear to his shoulder when the rodent jumped to another patch of clovers. Watching the metal tip of the spear move slightly back and forth by the wind, the akalak tightened his grip accordingly to stop the back and forth movements of the spear. When he was ready, the blue man stepped forward and threw the spear at the rabbit.

[Duron]

Duron watched the spear fly towards the rabbit. It was a decent throw, but he was used to throwing the spear at humanoid or larger animal targets. Realizing the precision it would take to hit a animal of that size with a object as large as a spear. Would take a skill level much greater than his current skill level. As the spear flew the air towards the rabbit, the small rodent already saw the akalak's sudden movement and immediately scurried into the thicket. The spear's metal point dug deep into the soft patch of dirt about three feet past the spot the rabbit was at. Taking a deep breath in frustration, the cerulean adjust the wide brimmed hat on his head,walked over to the spear, and pulled the metal tip of the ground. Using the hard sole of his boot, Duron knocked off the remaining dirt off the metal point. Looking around him, the akalak figured rabbit would be all over this area, but he wouldn't be able to kill them with his spear. He needed to look for larger game, so he continued walking deeper into the forest.

As Duron walked through the coastal forest, the akalak noticed the ground was covered in knee high grass and a mixture of other assorted plants. The hunter couldn't see any visible tracks in the ground, and if there was any, he couldn't see any with the grass. Frustrated at his luck, he ran a hand through his sweaty hair and looked around him. As he looked at the surrounding, he noticed that he walked into a small clearing in the forest. The clearing was large enough for a small field of grass and wildflowers to thrive in the thick of the forest. Duron noticed about twenty feet in front of him was a flatten trail of grass running through the clearing. Walking closer to the edge of the trail, he noticed that it was made by a animal about two feet across from side to side. Kneeling next to the trail, he picked up a bent blade of grass and noticed it was still a greenish yellow color. Feeling the broken pieces of the grass, he noticed the broken grass was still moist. Standing up, the hunter started to walk along the trail till he was hit by pungent smell of animal droppings.

Duron looked into the bent grass and noticed a pile of round feces. Kneeling down, the akalak pitched his nose and placed a hand over the pile of feces. The akalak could tell by the faint warmth coming off the feces that the animal was in the vicinity recently. He could tell how long, but he figured in the last hour or two. Standing up, the akalak continued down the path towards the edge of the forest. The animal seemed to be grazing on flowers because the there was half eaten daisy on the ground. Also there was a fare amount of empty seems in a patch of daisies. With the feces, trail through the grass, and the half eaten flowers, Duron figured a animal larger than a rabbit came through the clearing. He wasn't quite sure how long ago, but it was recently enough to track it. Tightening his grip on his spear, the hunter started to walk towards the forest with a smile on his face.

[Duron]

When Duron made it to the edge of the clearing, he was looking at the ground and noticed tracks of some large animal. The tracks were five inches across and had they looked like a inverted heart with a raised line going through the center with two small indents on wider end of the heart. The akalak wondered if it was a forest beast or if it was large herd beast from the Sea of Grass. Standing up, the Cerulean continued walking and noticed the heat of the day was starting to increase because the humidity was starting to grow. With each passing step, the akalak needed to wipe the sweat from his brow to concentrate on his task. After a bell of hiking through the forest, the akalak noticed that even in the shade might have cooled down the overall temperature, but the humidity seemed higher. Stopping to rest, the akalak pulled out his water skin, and took a drink of water. Looking around Duron noticed one of the trees along the trail had it bark stripped away from the rest of the tree.

Walking over to the tree, Duron bent over and picked up some of the back. He noticed the smoother side of the bark was moist. The akalak wasn't sure if the moist bark meant something, but he figured it must mean it was recently stripped off the side of the tree. Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the underbrush, and he immediately dropped to his knee below the underbrush. Suddenly he saw another rabbit hop out of the underbrush and started to munch on some clovers. The akalak knew that he didn't have the skill to kill it with his spear, but he couldn't resist when prey jumps out and asked to be skewered by his spear. Slowly, the akalak stood up and lifted the spear over his shoulder. The Cerulean knew that he need to move slowly, so he didn't spook the rodent. Widening his stance, he lined up the metal tip with the egg shaped body of the long eared rodent. Moving his right arm slowly backward, the spear thrower readjusted his aim back to the body. When he was ready to throw the spear, the hunter quickly moved his arm forward and threw the spear at the rabbit.

Duron watch the spear fly towards the rabbit, but once again, the aim was off. The spear flew over the rabbit and landed in the underbrush behind it. On cue, the rabbit got spooked and ran into the underbrush and out of sight. Suddenly, he heard a louder rustling, a large buck got up from his bed, and ran deeper into the forest. The akalak knew now the trail, tracks, scat, and rubbings were made by a deer. Now he just needed his spear that was under the underbrush. Walking over to the patch of three leaved plants, Duron frowned because he heard of certain plants and can cause painful blisters if you touch them with your skin. He didn't want to take the chance when he was so close to bagging a deer. Looking around the floor of the forest, the akalak found a four foot branch. Picking it up, Duron walked over and stuck the longer, end into the brush, and started to moved it around till he hit the shaft of his spear. When the branch hit the edge of the spear, the akalak knocked it with the branch till the end of the spear was sticking out of the undergrowth.

[Duron]

Freeing the spear from the underbrush, Duron figured the buck would run till it felt safe. The akalak walked to the location of the deer popped out of and found some fur in a matted down area of underbrush. The akalak noticed the trail through the brush was easier to follow because in the bucks haste. It left many trampled vegetation as it escaped into the forest. The Cerulean followed the trail of broken underbrush until the underbrush gave way to a area almost void of smaller vegetation because the canopy of the large trees didn't allow vary much synalight to the ground. The humidity was thick under the canopy and the lack of wind almost made it oppressive. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the akalak noticed the inverted heart shaped track were definitely fresh, but they were hard to make out because the deer must have been still running. The horned beast didn't have much time to leave a full indentations in the fresh dirt.

Duron started to walk slower through the forest. He was starting to get the feeling that he was coming to the end of the line. The akalak followed the vague tracks for half a bell till the canopy started to thin out and the dirt turned into grass. Suddenly, the clear tracks in the dirt vanished when he came to the grass. Swearing to himself in tukant, the akalak knew that he made a mistake when he went after the rabbit. Tightening his grip on the shaft of the spear, Duron started to look around for signs of his prey. The akalak was terrible at tracking animals in the grass because the tall grass hid the tracks quite well. As he was looking for the trail, he suddenly heard a splash. The expression the cerulean's face brighten at his luck. Walking to the top of a downward slope, the akalak hunter knelt behind a trunk of a large oak tree. Peeking behind a tree, the akalak noticed his buck was wading in knee high water near the edge of shallow large pond. The deer was either drinking or trying to cool off, so he start to slowly walk down the hill.

Walking heel to toe to muffle the sound of his movement, the akalak moved from tree to tree as he crept down the hill. Duron could feel the sweat building in his palm as he held the shaft of the spear. He knew that he needed to make little noise as possible to not alert the buck to his presence. The hardest thing about moving down the hill was not letting the long spear hit anything. However, making sure the spear didn't hit anything slowed his progress down the hill. The buck seemed to be drinking out of the pond when Duron made it to the shoreline. As he moved into position behind a bush, the akalak carelessly stepped on a large stick and the snap was loud enough to alert the deer to his presence. The horned beast shot up his head, looked in Duron's direction, suddenly turned towards the opposite shore, and jumped into deeper water. By the time, he lifted the spear over his shoulder, the deer was already swimming to the opposite shore. He knew that he wouldn't been able to retrieve his spear from the middle of the pond, so he choose to let the deer swim to the other side and escape unharmed by him.

[Duron]

Watching the deer walk up on the other shoreline of the pond, Duron frowned at his failure. He was sure the other people at the Sanctuary would understand but he still had to look at himself in the miiror. Resting the spear on his shoulder, Duron walked up the hill and started to walk back towards the direction of the Sanctuary. It took him a bell and half to make it back to the place where he first found the buck's trail. Stopping to take a drink of water, the akalak heard rustling in the underbrush. Suddenly, the same rabbit hopped out of the woods and started to munch on some clovers. Lifting the spear over his shoulder, the akalak widen his feet for his stance, so he could get better stability for his throw.

Pointing the metal tip at the center of the egg shaped body. The akalak moved his hand backward, so the metal point of the spear was about a foot away from his face. Duron stepped forward and hurled the spear at the rabbit. As he watched the spear soar toward the rabbit, he started to wonder why luck wasn't on his side today because he once again overthrew the spear, so it soared over his intended target and landed point first in the grass. The rabbit was nowhere in sight, so he walked over and yanked the spear out of the ground. Wiping the dirt from the metal blade, Duron walked back to the Sanctuary with a look of frustration on his face. It took him another bell till he saw the large walls raising up through the canopy.

The Cerulean walked along the walls till he found the main gates. When he walked through the main gates, the other employees must have noticed the dark look of frustration on his face because they all avoided him. One of the employees looked at him, but he said nothing and walked the other way. He figured that he didn't want to be around a frustrated Cerulean. Duron walked straight to his room without saying a word. When he got to his room, he opened the door, and walked inside. The hunter felt defeated, so he slumped into bed and stared at the ceiling till he fell asleep.

[Konrad Venger]

Hey, Duron! Once you get back and deduct your Summer and Winter Seasonal Expenses, I'll grade this up, no problem. PM me when you get back!