Completed The Journey, Part 2

[Shadyn]

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10th-17th of Autumn, 515 AV


Shadyn was riding on his back this early morning, studying the sky. Since he had never been far from Wind Reach before, the changes were noticeable. He had been trained to be able to account for latitudinal and longitudinal variations in their movements, and had been doing so reasonably well...he hoped. Still, it was fascinating to start seeing stars emerging at the horizon that he had never seen before, as well as other stars he knew disappearing as he traveled south.

The moon sat low on the horizon in the waning gibbous stage. The low angle made it appear golden. Night had always been a friend to him, a time of escape and peace. He thanked Leth for this blessing. While he thought about it, he added a prayer of thanks for the "Lunatite" and Pond Water he had acquired in the Moonlight Escape.

Right now, he was checking the distance of his Pilot Star against the rotation of other constellations. He had long since learned the value of keeping time by stellar movements, since in his youth he had often ventured beyond the reach of the hour bells of Wind Reach. Thus, he could say that it was about 5:30 in the morning right now. The sun would be rising soon, as the faint glow in the eastern sky denoted. Time to make another camp.

The spot he selected this time was a small field in the valley he was following. He refrained from being lazy and using the peat he had saved, since he knew that there would be plenty of deadwood to be found in the forest just a short distance away. Gathering it would take time...but save the peat for when he actually needed it.

He left Xarrt in the field to sleep while he went and gathered the wood. Something about the forest here unnerved him, though. It was the proverbial feeling of being watched, he decided. Knowing that it was these uncanny instincts that had saved many a hunting Endal from ruin, he unslung his tomahawk and wrapped the lanyard around his wrist. It swished gently back and forth as he moved through the trees, gathering any promising pieces of firewood that he could find. Testing them was important, he knew, since burning rotten wood would not only produce tons of smoke, but potentially noxious fumes as well. It would also spoil the taste of any food he attempted to cook over it...and his cooking was poor enough as it was.


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[Shadyn]

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The roar that came from behind him was nearly enough to make him jump into the treetops. Before he even turned around, he was pretty sure he knew what that creature was...a dire bear. When he set eyes upon it, he struggled not to cry out. It was massive...far larger than any bear he had ever even heard of, let alone seen.

His mind spun as he ran through what he should do. While playing dead was the officially safest course of action, a significant portion of his mind screamed against the notion of doing nothing in the face of such a threat. He began to reach for his tomahawk, his only hope of actually slaying the beast, but before he could do so it charged. Suddenly, he remembered something. Whipping up the waterskin from his side, he poured a draft of the Pond Water into his palm, relieved that the setting moon still kept the water present. He quickly sucked it down. The fact that the dire bear skidded to a halt and began searching the surrounding area told him that it had worked.

After doing an impromptu victory dance, he then began contemplating how to properly deal with things now. He could not very well fly away while immaterial, since he could not touch Xarrt. Nor did he want to fly, since they needed their rest. Lastly, he knew that such a beast would be able to scent them out for miles, thus negating the chance to move just a short distance. That left him with one choice...kill the beast. Doing so on foot...at least where he was now, was not an option, he knew. Perhaps if he had more experience in the use of his weapons...but certainly not now.

He casually strolled across the field over to where Xarrt sat alert, clearly put on edge by the bear's roar. Regretfully, he was unable to carry with him the firewood he had gathered, but at least he remembered where he had dropped it. When he reached Xarrt, he explained his plan.

Shadyn, are you sure you want to do this? You can sleep on my back, and I will fly you as far as you need.

"Thank you, Xarrt, but I want to face this beast. Call it a young man's foolishness, or call it bravery, but we have at least ten more days before we are out of The Unforgiving, and I don't want to spend all that time catering to the whims of creatures that live here. Now, get ready."

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[Shadyn]

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The bear had followed his scent out into the field, and was now standing directly in front of Shadyn, though it did not know it. Shadyn silently praised Leth for creating such a marvelous place as the Moonlight Escape, endowing its waters with their magical powers, and then allowing him to make use of them. Really, if it was not for Leth's power in the water at his hip right now, he would likely be in multiple pieces right now. He owed his life to Leth, and made mental note not to forget it.

Now, though, he readied his right hand to grab his tomahawk from his belt, while with the other he prepared to drink of the waters to return himself to normalcy again. When Xarrt had reached full altitude, he touched the waterskin's valve to his lips, opened his mouth to allow the last of the moon's rays to touch it's surface, then swallowed. The feeling of returning to material was rather odd, but his mind was occupied with the matter at hand. Instantly the tomahawk was spinning from his hand at the end of its lanyard, circling faster and faster. He let out a war-cry, startling the bear and causing it to pause for a moment as it processed this new turn of events. The very next moment, however, Xarrt let out a bloodcurdling screech, drawing the beast's attention upwards as he dropped into a lightning fast dive.

Having the dire bear lift it's head was all he needed. He rushed forward to point blank range and let the tomahawk fly the next three yards directly into its exposed throat. The obsidian blade served its purpose, slipping through the dense layers of matted fur and weathered skin deep into the throbbing mass of arteries, veins, and trachea. The fountain of blood that followed showed that he was wise in drawing this close, for he had not missed his mark.

It attempted to roar, but could only manage a furious gurgling sound. It focused it's waning vision on him and swung out with one of its massive paws. The immense claws caught Shadyn across the chest, though they fortunately he had possessed the sense to back up a step, which saved him from being gutted instantly. Still, the force sent him flying backwards into the grasses of the field.

It prepared to lunge forward to destroy this tiny pest, but was struck from above my a meteor of feathers and talons. The immense force of Xarrt's 350 pounds impacting on its neck with literally hundreds of millions of pounds per square inch focussed on each of his eight twenty inch talons was met with a resounding snap as they talons sheered through the beast's spinal column. It's head was jammed into the earth by Xarrt's momentum.

Then all was still. The fallen beast's massive head was only a foot away from Shadyn as its jaws slowly relaxed in death. Xarrt flex his talons, freeing them of the bear's flesh, then hopped down beside him.

Congratulations on your first successful battle of significant proportions. Your plan worked perfectly.

Before he let himself smile, he struggled to his feet, bleeding badly and quite pained, but still in one piece. He went and dug his tomahawk out from the heavy folds of neck muscles. The blade was, miraculously, still intact. He let out a whoop of joy, and commenced with yet another dance, this one an elaborate dance he had seen other Endals do at the end of a successful hunt. Due to his wounds, his rendition was quite sloppy and cut short, but he did not care. Even the fact that there was no one to see his success did not matter to him. HE knew that he had met potential calamity calmly and wisely, laid out a tactical plan, and then executed it flawlessly. Still, he would make sure he made a necklace out of the bear's massive claws...just to prove a point.

After several chimes, he stopped dancing and decided to tend to his wounds, the adrenaline wearing off and being quickly replaced by searing pains. "Well now, Xarrt. Why don't I mend myself up a bit, go gather up the wood that I had, and we have us a feast?"


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[Shadyn]

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The next six days went as smoothly as he could have possibly wished. The immense amount of meat that the bear provided meant that they did not have to hunt during that time. While this meant that Xarrt was carrying a great deal of extra weight, the ability to gorge himself on dense muscle and thick layers of fat easily compensated for that fact. They followed the valleys past Sultros on continued on to the southwest. The autumn forests meant that he was able to easily find enough dry wood to make fires each night, something at which he was becoming increasingly skilled. Cooking, too, was becoming a bit less of a gamble, making the food much more satisfying that it had been before.

Most of his time, however, was spent working with the bear's claws. When he had actually cut out the claws down to their roots, Shadyn realized that they were far too long to make a comfortable necklace. He decided to craft them into knives, since nature had already done most of the work for him.

The process was reasonably simple, based off of a book he had read during some long winter's night in Wind Reach. His eating knife was his only tool...but it sufficed for simple whittling. First, he honed the claw into something resembling a blade. It was certainly not sharp edged, but the tip did hook into a needle sharp point naturally, so he did not mess with that. Once he had done the same with all four of the claws he had selected, he took the metacarpal bones and shaped them into generic cylindrical handles , then charred a coating of pine sap onto them as a sort of make-shift sealant.

Next, he fitted the end of each claw into a small divot he scrapped into the end of each handle. To this arrangement he added a set of notches on both the claws and the handles. Some of the larger tendons of the creature sufficed as tie-ons for binding the "blades" to their hilts. He tied the knots just like he used to tie the knots for rope climbing...slip-proof. Once these were put over the fire for a few minutes, the heat dried the tendons, causing them to string and permanently stretch into place. Another layer of pine sap was then applied and charred, to seal those. Finally, he cut off a few gold plated steel rings and some small golden scales from the decoration on his katinu, and melted them onto the end of the hilts.

The result was not exactly pretty, and not exactly useful as a weapon, he determined. Still, the hooked tip would be good for skinning hides...and it helped pass the time. Maybe he would eventually find a person skilled enough in malediction to turn them into something better than his pathetic crafting skills could do. No matter what, though, they made for good trophies.


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[Shadyn]

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The last of the bear-meat had been consumed. And that meant it was time to hunt again. They were now in the lowlands, the high mountains of Ekhart Pass looming ahead of them. Not wishing to have any of the troubles associated with the trade path that led through the pass and these lowlands, Shadyn had made camp about thirty miles southwest of the actual trail. He had spotted Zith flying in the distance around sunrise, but they had retreated to the foggy mountains as day crept across the lands.

The relatively high foot traffic in the area and the apparent Zith population had effectively eliminated all large game, leaving him the only option of...rabbits. At least as far as he could tell.

Now, considering his skill -- or lack thereof -- with his bow, Shadyn resigned himself to the fact that this would be a very...VERY long day of hunting. He remembered what he had learned about arrows from his last time hunting the marmots, and filled his back-quiver with flight arrows...and a few barbed arrows just in case he encountered Zith.

The lowlands consisted of scattered copses of trees, pleasant meandering streams, and chest-high grasses. Thicker brush lined the areas around water, which he supposed might also conceal rabbit colonies. He stalked carefully through the fields, trying to look for any clue as to where his prey might be found.

Sure enough, he noticed that some of the field grasses concealed low, well-worn paths that he presumed to be rabbit trails. He took several steps back from the trail, and began gingerly following it.


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[Shadyn]

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Patience led him to a collection of holes interspersed with some wild roses along a stream. From his position in the grass, he had a clear view of them, at least. Crouching slightly to remain more concealed, he carefully nocked an arrow and pulled to half draw at chest level. Chimes passed, and he became increasingly thankful for the time he had spent mining jewels. Spending hours on ropes had taught his muscles how to sustain weight without exhaustion, and the force of the bow was certainly testing that.

Still, his patience was rewarded by a small pink nose with long white whiskers poking out of one of the burrows. Slowly, the tentative creature crept into full daylight, eventually deciding that all was safe. Shadyn raised the bow to eye level and pulled the string to full draw. He took a breath, sighted in, and released. The arrow flew true, killing the rabbit instantly. While this was satisfactory, it was not exactly an achievement considering he was only fifteen feet away from it.

Nevertheless, it was food. He went and retrieved it, then returned to his position. Only one other rabbit emerged, which he summarily shot. After bagging this one as well, it occurred to him that killing these right at their hole would most likely scare the others into hiding. He remained in position for another bell without any other rabbits showing themselves. Rising to leave, he cursed himself for this stupidity. Still...he and Xarrt each had something to eat, even if it was a bit small. He could supplement their food with one of his rations. Half to himself, and half to Xarrt. It would have to do.

Preparing the food was a bit more complicated than before. Firewood was plentiful, and the rabbits were roasted as usual, experience making them far more palatable than the ram he had cooked nearly two weeks ago, but the ration posed a problem. He had asked a drudge to cook his first ration before he left while he took care of feeding Xarrt. Now, he had to take care of the dried food on his own. It consisted of a small sack of dried berries, another sack of dry wild rice and dried mixed mushrooms, and a third sack of elk jerky.

While he resolved to eat the jerky without rehydrating it, he had to boil the rice, mushrooms, and berries. That might have been simple...if he had a pot.

"Well...Xarrt, I hope you have your gizzard ready, because our second course is going to be a hard one."

When he went to sleep in the afternoon sun, Shadyn might have been full of nutritious food, but he was certain he jaw would ache for the next year...

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[Brandon Blackwing]

SHADYN

XP Award:

• Observation +4
• Navigation +1
• Deduction +1
• Tactics +1
• Intimidation +1
• Weapon: Tomahawk +1
• Dancing +1
• Carving +1
• Tracking +1
• Stealth +1
• Hunting +1
• Weapon: Composite Longbow +1
  

Lore:

• Intimidation: War-cry
• Tactics: Teamwork between endal and eagle
• Dancing: Victory Dance
• Carving: Creating bone knives
• Tracking: Rabbit Trails

Other:
+ Gashes from the bear
+4 knives made from bear bones/claws

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credit goes to Adelaide Sitai