Completed Porcupine Hunt

[Enthere]

20th day of Summer, 514 AV Enthere woke with the sun. The night forest had gone to rest and the denizens of daytime were waking. Enthere had plans to hunt today, she had scented out lots of delicious fauna around her campsite: Deer, rabbits, various birds she didn't know, and a stream with some very nice fish in it. She undressed quickly, taking off even her bone necklace. She walked nakedly around her site, checking on Friend, making sure the fire was out, and making sure her food supplied were out of reach to scavengers. Then she set off through the forest towards the mountains. About a mile from her camp she changed to her animal form: a large, lean cougar. The reason she went so far from her camp before switching to animal was her pack horse, the poor creature was agitated enough when Enthere wasn't a hungry cougar. She didn't want to burden him further. It was a good day for hunting, the sun was warm but not too heavy in the shade of trees and rocks. Enthere worked her way up the mountain-she didn't care enough to know which it was. Soon she had a splendid view of the city, port, and bay beyond. She also had a good view of the area immediately beneath her lookout. She scanned for signs of potential prey. Catching tiny disturbances in the landscape; a slid mark here, a tuft of fur there. The coastal winds brought more aromas of mountain creatures, along with faint odors of Zeltiva. Odors that were becoming both familiar and welcome. She stood poised at her lookout, her mouth open to catch smells and tastes, for some minutes. She finally caught a whiff of fear-prey animals often increased in stink when they sensed a large predator. It was a new smell to Enthere, one she hadn't encountered before. Of course she followed its trail, she was curious and hungry for fresh meat, and hopeful she could satisfy both desires. She knew she was nearing her prey when she found small, clawed footprints leading directly away from her. Enthere increased her pace, but stayed low and silent on her paws, her tawny belly brushing the ground. The creature had obviously sensed her despite the wind carrying her scent away from it and was fleeing. The trail led her across a long stretch of pebbles, with the paw prints barely visible in the fine rock dust.

[Enthere]

Twigs and Leaves brushed her sides and back, dust and dirt grazed the tips of her belly fur. Her eyes and ears focused and refocused at every sound. She was a silent, invisible movement in the brush, heading downhill. That is, until she hit a patch of smooth pebbles and her paws slipped. Enthere fell to her stomach, clattering down hill in a cascade of small stones. A cat always lands on its feet, they say, and that's true until a pile of rocks hits them in the back and they collapse in a very un-cat-like manner. Enthere got to her feet as most of the pebbles slid off her, leaving her with a fine covering of dust and sand on her coat. Certain her prey was long gone after the ruckus, Enthere swept her annoyed gaze around her surroundings. To her surprise, her eyes fell on a very strange creature that had been partially caught in Enthere's mini rockfall. It was about half her size, with flabby legs and a long thick-haired coat. It squinted its little black eyes at her, sniffing and making an odd rattling noise. Enthere lowered herself into a crouch, her fur blended almost perfectly with the pebbles, and the creature seemed to forget about her. She crept closer, moving nary an inch at a time and placing every paw carefully. The ugly, pointy furred beast would be hers! Her posture returned to sneaky hunter, clever hunter, successful hunter. As she knew the hunt was as good as over, unless this creature had a secret weapon hidden under all that fat he was utterly done for The tip of her tail twitched, the creature dabbled its nose at some grass, completely oblivious to his impending demise. Enthere raised on her haunches and pounced. Her claws thrust forward to hold the animal so her sharp teeth could pierce its throat.

[Enthere]

Claws closed around the porcupine for a brief second. The cougar reared back with a loud snarl. Detached quills stabbing into the soft pads of her front paws, she remained sitting up on her haunches. Unable to put her front paws down, she bared her teeth in anger, her eyes flashing with hatred for her own weakness and the other animals cunning defense. If only cougars were born with hard scales in the place of warm fur. But she was not defeated, she knew the porcupine now and could initiate a better tactic. The porcupine had emitted a loud squeal of fear when the cougar had attacked, but now it calmly lumbered into the bushes, its long spiked tail dragging behind as if to taunt its assailant. Enthere shook her paws, trying to dislodge the spikes, the long needles didn't budge. Unwilling to limp home defeated and full of sharp things, Enthere gingerly pulled out the barbed spikes with her teeth. It was an agonizing process that left her with several bleeding holes in her paws. She sat licking them with a rough tongue until the bleeding lessened. It would be painful to walk home like this, but maybe less painful if she had a full belly. The cougar stalked after the porcupine, which, feeling secure in its own protective covering, hadn't gone far. It wasn't hard to track. The same long spiked tail that had taunted Enthere with its daring obliviousness, made a distinct trail in the dirt. When she found it, the porcupine was in the low branches of a tree, nibbling at bark and twigs. The branch was low enough to reach easily for the cougar, and the porcupines exposed underbelly provided a perfect target. The hard part would be grasping the porcupine without getting stuck with quills, and later dissecting the meat from the offensive spines. Cougars are not creatures of caution when it comes to prey, so it didn't take long for the cougar to gather herself on her haunches in preparation to pounce. She watched the porcupine with hungry eyes, her head tipped back to watch it. When the moment came she pounced, surging upwards in a short, powerful jump. Her claws caught it from beneath this time, saved from the porcupines painful backside. The creature make a low shriek of pain as the cougar pulled it from the branches and to her sharp teeth. Her jaws closed around the base of the porcupines neck, killing it.

[Enthere]

Killing the porcupine turned out to be the easier part of the hunt. Skinning it to get to the meat (which Enthere wasn't sure would be good or not, but her nose told her it was) was messy in many ways. Enthere shifted forms and sat cross-legged on the stony ground, staring at the dead animal. Her blueish eyes worked over the body, her mind trying to decide the best way to go about it. She had refrained from eating it in her animal form, wanting to avoid the spines as much as possible. She could cut and skin the creature like a rabbit: taking the quills and skin off together. Or she could pluck it like a bird: quills first, then skin. Common sense and instinct told her to choose the former, so she set about her task. Skinning and cleaning the porcupine. This was made more difficult by the fact that she didn't have any sort of knife or tool to aid her, she had to search until she found a stone sharp enough to break the porcupines thick skin. Even then the quills pricked her hands and the stone cut an uneven line down the creatures belly, hindering her progress. By the time the job was finished it was late afternoon, and Enthere was ravished. Menial work wasn't her forte. She would have stayed and camped on the mountain, it wouldn't have been the first time a hunt had drawn her far from her base of operations, but she always felt bad when she left Friend overnight. She knew he would be safe with her near, and she felt obligated to protect him from the many dangers of living outside of civilization. Enthere changed back to her Cougar shape, which was faster in the rocky mountains, even when she had tender paws. She scarfed the porcupine meat, separating flesh from bone with the efficiency of a true predator. Then it was back down the mountain, following wispy goat and deer trails, her keen eyes watching the evening shadows and picking out familiar landscapes. It was late evening when she made it back to camp. The sun turned in for the night, but the dark not completely covering the mountains. Enthere, as always, shifted back to her human form a few minutes from camp. Carefully picking her way through the woods to her home. She stopped when she could see Friends outline, dark against the darker foliage. She watched for a few moments, waiting to see if anything was amiss. She sniffed the air, but all was as she'd left it. She stole across the clearing to check on Friend, then back to her tent to sleep. For once the horse didn't wake when he sensed her, leaving the Kelvic completely unnoticed in the dark. her keen eyes

[Enthere]

Dawn creeped through the open tent flap, waking the sleeping Kelvic, she slept curled around her injured hands, protecting them with her body as if that would help the pain. The Kelvic had left the entrance to her nest open in her exhaustion last night, she had been to tired to care about the bugs and night animals it let in. She sat up with a light moan, she was still tired from yesterdays hunt, and she didn't even have any extra meat to show for her efforts. Enthere looked around her tent, the sunlight through the canvas turned everything a sickly shade of greenish. However, nothing appeared to be disturbed, and on further inspection her pack horse was still contentedly nibbling grass in sparse meadow. It had to be atleast noon judging by the sheer amount of light under her canopy. She had overslept badly, she always tried to be awake before dawn. It was what smart predators did-if they didn't just hunt through the night. Again she wished she had more meat from her hunt, the porcupine had been delicious, but most of his bulk had been prickly quills. There were more pressing matters than hunger though, her hands were covered in numerous, jagged holes. The barbed porcupine quills had left their mark, and she was bruised from her slide down the mountain as well. She got dressed easily enough, though it pained her hands. Then she ripped two pieces of cloth from her underclothes, she prefered that her outerclothes not be so visibly shredded. Then she built up her fire, bringing it to a small flame. She took a portion of her water rations and boiled the strips of cloth, sterilizing them. She also washed her hands, before wrapping them. It wasn't much, but it should do for now.

[Redd]

Enthere

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Hunting	+3XP
Tracking	+2XP
Observation	+2XP
Animal Husbandry: Equine	+1XP
Wilderness Survival	+3XP
Medicine	+2XP

Lores
➢ Friend: Is frightened by my animal form
➢ Shade: Provides cover from the sun
➢ Tracking: Tiny disturbances
➢ Tracking: Fear-animals increase in odours
➢ Pebbles: Slippery
➢ Porcupines: Covered in spikes that hurt
➢ Hunting: Porcupines have a soft underbelly
➢ Wilderness Survival: A sharp rock can cut animal skin
➢ Porcupine: A small meal
➢ Medicine: Hot water sterilizes

Micellaneous :

Injuries
➢ Hands have small jagged wounds that are small holes.
- Will take fourteen days to heal without treatment
- Will take seven days to heal with treatment
- Moderate risk of infection
- Little to no scarring. If scarring is apparent, it will fade

Loot/Expenses
➢ List Expenses

____________________________________________

Notes

➢ Enthere, generally animals such as deer and rabbits will stay away from campsites due to the smell of smoke. It invokes a sense of danger and will stay away.

➢ I awarded a point in Animal Husbandry, because checking up on an animal is considered animal care.

➢ Please be aware that you did not have any tracking points until now. Seeing as you are novice in the skill, you will of course miss some key details. So for future reference, please be aware of what your skill levels are at.

➢ Other than that, a lovely read. If you have any concerns about your grade, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

____________________________________________

If you feel that I have left out something or made an error of some kind, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you have any questions or comments, again feel free to contact me. I don't bite, I swear. Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.