Solo To Track and Fight

[Gaius Sivet]

40th Day, Spring, 513 A.V.

Gaius knelt in the bushes, far from his camp site. He knelt there, examining the ground closely. He had woken up that day and decided it was time to expand not only his ability to track, but his ability to trap game. It would prove a useful skill while he was camping outside of a city, and if he needed to catch someone some day, it could work there too. And until he could afford himself a bow and arrows, it was his most reliable method of getting food.

He had started off by heading away from his camp, and the city walls, into the forest, hoping to find something to track. He soon managed to find an area by a stream where the prints of several rabbits were embedded into the soft dirt of the stream bed. He smiled at that and had followed one of the larger, more obvious trails, off from the stream. It had led him for a good way, before stopping at this bush. Now here he was, crouched in the bushes, trying to pick up the trail again.

He sighed and hung his head, seemingly unable to find the trail. To his relatively inexperienced eyes, it was basically gone. He shook his head and decided to head back to the stream. He pulled a bit of rope from his pocket, a small, simple thing, good enough for a simple snare for the rabbits and not much else. Perhaps he would do better in catching a rabbit than in tracking one.

[Gaius Sivet]

Gaius headed back to the stream and found the area where the rabbit tracks had first started. He moved a bit off from it and found a small sapling. He took the rope and made his best attempt at a snare, forming the rope into a loop that connected to the tree. A bit of movement on the loop and it should snap closed around whatever was inside it. It was crude and not guaranteed to work, but for a first attempt, it would have to do.

Gaius stood and brushed off his pants before heading away from the snare, going out of sight from it. He took a deep breath and leaned against a tree, collecting his thoughts, and the rest of himself, resting for a moment. Then, he stepped back and drew his sword. He started by simply moving, getting a feel of his weapon once more, then he dove into the combat. He hacked and slashed at imagined enemies, cutting high and low. His strokes were anything but masterful or gracefully done, but he moved with a fluidity that he was happy to possess. He slashed this way and that, moving, ducking and trying to improve his ability in actually staying alive through means other than being the first to strike.

When he was overwhelmed, he took to ducking back, side stepping and blocking as best he knew how. When opens were there, he struck, quickly as he could. He knew that this play acting was a shadow of true combat, and that, without a partner to spar against, he would never fully realize his ability. But it was a place to start and he hoped to someday match his skills against others.

After some time of this, Gaius stopped and leaned against the tree, sheathing his sword and gathering his breath. He decided to go check his snare and then practice his reimancy for a bit. After that, it would start to be late and he would have to head back to camp and make sure everything was in order before catching a bit of shut eye.

[Gaius Sivet]

Gaius headed back to the stream where he had set his snare. He approached optimistically and was, thankfully, rewarded. He had gone as far as leftover trail rations could take a man and was glad to see a rather fat rabbit in his trap. It was stuck by a foot in the snare and Gaius removed his sword and stabbed the rabbit through the head, before pulling it out and cleaning it on a scrap of cloth before sheathing it.

Gaius knelt and undid the snare, pocketing the rope for later, smiling as he picked up the rabbit. It would prove an excellent meal, though his lack of skinning knowledge left him a bit surly that the fur would be unsellable. He could have made a nice profit off that, though not much of one.

He smiled as he stood and headed back to camp, whistling lightly as he went. He soon came to his campsite, and he set the rabbit down beside the fire pit, where it would wait for him to skin, gut, and cook it. After that was taken care of, Gaius walked off a few paces and took a deep breath, preparing for some practice with his magic.

He smirked lightly as his grey, stormy res pooled into his hand. He held it up before his eyes, letting it form several shapes there, before settling on a projectile. It was a narrowed thing, diamond like in shape, though only roughly so. He let the outer few layers of the res harden into solid earth and aimed at a tree. He sent the projectile spinning towards it and hardened the whole of the res as it went, letting it thunk solidly into the trunk. Gaius cheered happily at that, grinning. Hopefully someday he'd combine a few elements together into something really spectacular.

He sighed and repeated the process, ensuring he could do it quickly. He let the res pool, formed it, hardened the outer edges, threw it and hardened it fully, rewarded each time with a hearty thunk against the tree. After several minutes, and starting to feel light headed, he headed back to camp, smiling happily as he sat down, grabbed his eating knife, a crude tool to be sure, and cut the rabbit open.

Gaius removed the rabbit's innards and skinned it, making a general mess of things, but getting a hearty portion of meat. He took a large flat rock and laid the meat out on it as he grabbed flint and steel and started his fire. As he waited for the fire to heat and produce some coals, he grabbed his water skin and washed away the blood he had gotten nearly everywhere, making sure it was all well and gone so not to attract wolves or some such. That done, he leaned back and awaited his first real meal in some time.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Gaius Skill Points Earned Reimancy 2 XP Trapping 1 XP Tracking 1 XP Weapon: Sword 1 XP Lore Earned A Lucky Catch Trapping Lore: Simple Snares Other Shenanigans: Comments : Remember if you want more points to go into more detail! Otherwise good work and PM me with questions or concerns!