Completed The Hunt

[Crystal Nightshade]

80th of Summer, 515AV Early Morning, Syliras Main Gates Syliras. A bustling city where one could easily be trampled by crowds, or go death from the constant chatter. It was a stronghold that kept many safe, one that symbolized peace and prosperity. The Knighthood of Syliras made sure the peace was kept, not discriminating in their jobs. A person could get used to it. At least, that's what the ebony thought. From her view it was a nice place if you could get past the little things like crowds and noise. Most of time she could just lie in bed, doing nothing but recalling the events from the day before. Rarely had she though, because she was always hunting. Ah, hunting. Her eyes snapped Oppenheimer at the thought. She was currently in her home, sleeping off the previous days fatigue. She dragged herself from the comfort of her bed, and went to the surest neatly placed at the end of her bed. Quickly opening it she pulled leather armor and a nice set of black pants from the chest. She quickly washed afterwards, drying off and putting on her clothes before pulling back her hair into a tight ponytail. Not one to disappoint, she shoved on her boots, strapped her dagger at her side, and picked up her bow, quiver, and arrows. Next she packed her back pack with toiletries, flint and steel, one eating knife, a Bedroll, a tent, her preservation kit, and some insect repellent. Now she was ready to go. She headed out the door where the bustling crowds were waiting. She immediately followed the crowd of bodies, marveling at the amount of people who were awake at this bell. She followed the crowd until she saw that the gate was approaching, in which point she broke off and stepped up to the gate. She took a deep breath before stepping out, and exhaled when she was on the other side. She would trek deeper in, camp the night, hopefully catch a few things before returning the next morning. After a few chimes she eventually stopped walking and removed her book bag. She took out her tent, content with just a simple one person. She looked around for a flat surface are before setting the ten there. She slid the tent up putting it into the ground before going inside. There she laid out a bedroll, and sprayed herself with insect repellent. Leaving the backpack there, she exited the tent. Now she was prepared for the hunt. That she left the tent and headed east. If she got lost, it would be a problem, but she could easily find her way back if she stayed in one general direction. Before that though she drew an arrow from her quiver and placed it gently against the string of her Shortbow. Keeping it aimed at the ground, she explored the woods quietly. Most would wonder why she didn't use traps. The simple answer was she had tried in the past, but it didn't go so well. She could never set the up the correct way, as such most of the game got away. She huffed an agitated sigh at the reminder. Trapping with her father never went well, the man had always said it was her weak point. She could skin, she could kill, but she couldn't trap. I never tried again afterwards, She eventually entered a more sheltered area of the forest, so her concentration needed to be on the hunt.

[Crystal Nightshade]

80th of Summer, 515AV Morning, Bronze Woods Crystal sighed. Even if she couldn't trap, she had been surviving without the skill for years. Though she had a feeling she'd eventually seek out a teacher and try again. She couldn't be the best if she didn't know all the necessary skills. She didn't talk to many people, and the ones she did speak to weren't hunters, but regulars at a coffee shop. Speaking of, she had skipped her morning coffee. Before she could delve further into her thoughts, a startled cry echoed from her right. It sounded like some kind of animal, and soon the ground began to rumble. In the distant black dots were headed for her, but they were rushing her at incredible speeds. No, they weren't dots. They were.. animals?! She needed to get out of the way, fast. She needed to escape or she'd be trampled. Looking around, she found a tree branch. Never, not even once had she climbed a tree, but the constant hammer of her adrenaline powered heart had her trying to scale it. She made a mad dash to the tree, and gripped the branch. Please let this work... She prayed silently as she clutched her bow between her teeth, and attempted to hoist herself up. She used her feet to push against the stump, and managed time get herself up. After praying to all the gods and goddesses she knew and respected, she quickly grabbed her bow. She took an arrow from her quiver and held the end to the bowstring. Putting a firm hold on the grip, she drew back the arrow blunt and and prepared to shoot. It was a perfect opportunity. With the animals in a rest, she could shot down a couple of them and bring them back after the stampede had passed. That was the plan at least. She took a deep breath and lined the Shortbow with her nose. She let her finger slip, setting the arrow to fly amongst the chaos. She wouldn't be able to see the result until the animals passed, so she repeated the process. Notch. Draw. Shoot. Repeat. Three arrows gone, and she was done. Soon though the stampede passed, leaving a behinds a dust cloud. When it cleared, she had a boar laying on it's side with an arrow to the stomach, a trail of blood leading to a small deer limping away slowly, arrow lodged into its leg, and a arrow stuck in the ground. All together not bad. Though she had missed one, and almost two the boar was a nice size, but was going to be hard to skin. Crystal listened intently as she gazed from her perch on the tree. Silence. Good, that hopefully meant no more stampeding. She wasn't to high, so she hoped down from the tree and on to the ground, but managed to land on her bum instead. She chuckled to herself, before standing to inspect the game further. She would need to catch up to the deer, but it was leaving a nice trail of blood so it shouldn't be hard to track. Soon though she would need to skin the boar. As she approached the animal snuffed and started to squeal in a high pitched cry. Briefly she wondered what caused the stampede, but decided not to dwell on it. "Hush now, I'll make it painless." She soothed. Switching to her dagger, she angled around toward the board chest. She did now much about there structure, but she would have to try her best to end it quickly.She eased closer, weary of the beast just in case it tried to impale her. Those tusks were nice weapons. She held the dagger and plunged it into the boars chest area with all her might. She stood away so she wouldn't be covered in blood, but she felt a sliver of sorrow and regret for the animal as it squeal stopped midway. It's eyes glazed o Dr in an instant, so she closed them and began to work. Under her quiver she had her backpack, weighed with the preservation kit. She removed both, keeping herself alert as she worked the backpack and removed the kit. She set to work, first by removing the fur with a skinning knife. That took at least a bell and a half. Next was removing a good portion of the meat. Feeling over the skin, Crystal found a nice patch of meat to start with before taking out her dagger. Of course, she had to make nice, long cuts. And that she tried. She combed the dagger into the meaty portion of the boar, and made a long cut down. She curved into the meat and back up to detach from the rest. She repeated the process until she ad a good fifteen twenty pounds of slices. The predators in the forest would most likely smell the kill and come running, so she had to work quickly to avoid danger. She took sugar and salt jar out, then the dry cure and rubbed the slices down, appalling a healthy amount. The next step would be to smoke it. So with all said and done she packed up, putting the meat in a jar from the kit, sheathed her dagger, picked up her long bow, removed and recovered her arrows, and headed toward the tent. She made the trek, got lost three times, before realising the sun was setting the way she had to go. She made her way back to the tent, and by the time she got there it was close to nightfall. All those wrong turns had taken. Plus trying to track down that deer. She'd followed the blood trail to some kind of lake of some sort. There she assumed the deeper traveled by water, in which case she'd not look any further.

[Crystal Nightshade]

She was now trekking back to her tent, her mind focused on how nice a catch she'd had. It was great. She would happily be almost trampled again if it meant such good fortune. Perhaps venturing deeper into the Bronze wasn't so bad. Though there was an eerie feeling settling in her mind. She of course shook it off, but anything was possible in the forest right? Right. So when a growl emitted behinds her, she froze. She immediately drew her quiver but quickly found it smacked from her hand. "What the pet-- agh!" She let out a pained grunt as she was slammed into the ground by.. a human? Why would a woman be out here, no less beating innoc-- wait, were there cracks.. on her skin?! Her back thronged, reminding her that this thing infused with rocks was attacking her. It was strong, to knock her down like that, but what was it? She'd never seen anything like it. She went for her dagger as it charged her, and rolled away as the beast lunged for her. Getting to her feet, she immediately shrugged off the access weight of her now useless quiver and backpack. She then charged while the beast recovered circling it aiming for the neck with her dagger as it stood. Before she could make a precise cut, the monster let out an ear splitting screech, high in sound so much so Crystal was forced to back away and hold her ears. It sounding a little like a 'yuk' when she processed it. It flew towards her, and she scrambled to remove her self from its path. Long nails nicked her cheek, drawing blood as she managed to avoid serious damage. It was fast. One wrong step could be the end. It picked up her bag, inspecting it before ripping it open. She took it as an opening and immediately went for its back. A paralyzing technique she'd learned from her father, but she wasn't fast enough, because the animal swung its arm back, punching her in the face and sending her down. "S-Shyke.." There would be a bruise there later, not that she cared. She needed to stop it before it destroyed the rest of her things. Pushing herself up, she realized what the beast was after, grunts and snorts before it began to consume the jar containing her game. "No don't!" *Crish crunch* All that work. The beast immediately began to yowl in pain, shards of glass embedding themselves in to its skin. This was her chance. Immediately she rolled grabbed her quiver and arrows after sweating her dagger, and dashed for her bow. The creature, to busy with its own pain didn't notice her grab the bow and dash away. Once she could no longer hear the screeches and pitched howls of pain, she caught her breath. Her lungs burned with exhaustion, and she greedily took in oxygen. What predicament. She frowned, she had just lost her catch. The hunter had become hunted. This was a load of Shyke! She clenched her first, readjusting her quiver, upset to have lost not only a backpack, but a catch and preserving kit. Those cost miza, miza she didn't have. She began to a light jog to her tent, to exhausted to actually run. She hoped she wouldn't have to sell her home again. As she put the insect repellent in her quiver, the only available space, she draped the bedroll and tent over her shoulder and headed toward the gate. Then she realized she had also lost her flint and steel, as well as all her toiletries. She groaned, and smoothed the loose locks from her face. What a perfect day this had turned out to be. Then when she thought about it she realized it was her fault. She had ignored her gut, something that usually treated her right. She couldn't believe this. She would need to do something about it. Her father had trained her to well for her to fail so easily. Perhaps she could prove herself worthy again tomorrow, but for now she'd had enough of the wilderness. She began to head toward the gate, keeping alert as she headed to her destination. She had to be careful, that thing could easily find her again. Speaking of, what was it? Dirty, cracked skin embedded with rocks and grass. Wait. The creature had a shiny rock in it.. Perhaps it was worth something? Even if it was she couldn't go back. She didn't know how to take it down, less what it was. How could she even hope to beat it? She had backed herself into a corner. She couldn't go back. She would be injured, or worse, killed. She touched the cut on her cheek, bring slight heated pain to it that caused her to wince.

[Crystal Nightshade]

She winced slightly, a light sting and heat came from the scratch as he skin touched it. She sighed and brought her hand down. This had been an exhausting day. She couldn't believe half the events that happened. From almost being trapped to death, to being attacked by strange monsters.. yeah, way to much had happened today. She was fully aware that the woods hosted monsters and all sorts of danger, but that was a risk she'd opted to take. Maybe she should find a partner to venture with? No, then she would have to keep up conversation while staying alert. Fine, she'd just remain by herself, but would be more cautious. Besides, this was her first time being attacked by a strange creature in the forest. Speaking of, she would have to ask around about that specific creature, perhaps someone would know of it? She contemplated this as she approached the gate. As she approached she didn't realise how awful she most look until she received odd stares from the guards. She guessed she would need more than just a scratch treatment. She decided not to say anything, and just walked passed them while attempting to get her hair back in place. What an eventful and exhausting day. Items Lost : Backpack Comb (Wood) Brush (Wood) Soap Razor Balanced Rations (1 Week's worth) 1 eating knife Flint & Steel

[Ball]

And the grades come rolling in.

 

Overall Comments

I wish I could give you more skills and Lores, Detail is going to be your friend in that case. The thread was good, your writing is nice. I like the overall feeling you portrayed. I stumbled over the writing several times in every post due to lack of proof reading and wrong words used. Please use something with a spell checker. If you do not have one, please PM me and I can assist you in getting one if need be (I do believe Google Docs though has one, and it comes free with a Google Account.)

As always, please PM me with any questions in regards to your grade and please be sure to mark your grade request as graded. Thank you, Ball

 

Crystal Nightshade

Experience Points.

Wilderness Survival	+1
Climbing	+1
Weapon (shortbow)	+1
Hunting	+1
Butchery	+1
Food Preservation	+1
Endurance	+1

Lores.

• Hunting - Skinning a Boar
• Preservation - Salting the Meat
• Preservation - Jarring Salted Meat
• Losing the Kill to a Yukman

Template Credit: Edric Wingard