• Closed • Unseen Enemy.

Qit'ria and Nir'wei are sent on a mini-adventure.

18th of Vhalar 717

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Nir'wei
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As Qit rounded the brush, Nir'wei squatted as close as he dared, within viewing distance but still more than far enough that an errant cough hopefully wouldn't interrupt the take-down. "Have you seen the way she looks at you?" Greyhide suddenly asked, eyes fixed sternly on the Hafrein first, hunter second. Watching for the slightest twitch, the signal he needed to jump in and take the kill for himself. He never found it. "Like an eagle that looks at a dead pigeon. Wasted meat, not worth scavenging. It's almost as bad as the looks you give her back." There was a stern humour in his voice, amused but berating. Whatever hidden message was masked in his words, Nir'wei didn't see it, nor did he need to. She could think whatever she thought of him. He'd already made amends with that. "Envy is unbecoming of you," the wolf chimed.

"Stop reading my thoughts," he sent back, shooting a harsh glare the wolf's way and nearly tripping over himself when he looked down and found Greyhide already staring back up at him with those eerie, yet familiar eyes of his. The exact same ones that he owned himself. If he looked deep enough, he could see his own reflection in them. A dark, endless tunnel of blue. "I don't envy her," he added afterwards, light and conversational. Somewhere in the distance a scuffling, possibly a fight, though he no longer paid attention to it; whatever happened was hers to trouble with now. "I have a place here. I'm no longer dying; that's always a bonus. A stable, well-paying job doing what I love, with all the freedoms I could need. My best friend is within a break's fly, at best - oh, right, I can fly now. I'd almost forgotten." Something about this conversation was really starting to grate on his nerves the more they talked about it. "So what, she can throw a javelin a little better than me. A javelin? Come on."

"You know this isn't about the javelin." The wolf breathed out a strange sigh and sat on its haunches, apparently resigned. A faint sound, like the tearing of fabric. "At the end of today, we'll go home to our tent. Tomorrow we'll return to the Menagerie. And the cycle will begin again." He nodded vaguely in the direction of where Qit'ria had slunk off. "She'll go home, and tomorrow she'll be doing a job for anyone, doing anything." Well, not anything, Nir'wei amended... but he didn't like the thought process. "It's the price you've paid for a nice, stable, well-paying job. You've traded in your adventure." Somewhere in the back of his head, he could feel Archailist nodding enthusiastically in agreement, and fresh annoyance stoked the low flame he'd already been harbouring since before they'd set out. "And seeing someone else enjoying everything you've lost..."

Nir'wei banished those thoughts and stood abruptly, doing his best to mentally ignore where the wolf was going. It was a good thing Qit'ria had already snagged the Hafrein, because where he'd stomped through the wilderness without any particular finesse before out of inexperience, he was fully aware of how much he was probably messing things up now. He was past the point of giving a shit. It really was blind luck by this point that there wasn't much on the path he took that could make any significant noise. "You finished?" Stupid question, he realised, looking down at the trapped animal. He winced at the literal hole in its leg. The best way to stop it from running off, but certainly not the best way to keep it on its feet later-on. They still had to walk the damn thing and there was no point taking them down if they just died from exhaustion, blood loss, infection, internal bleeding, or any other host of complications that often came paired with a javelin wound to the leg. This is why they had the blunt arrows! This is why they had poison, for Karem's sake!

He looked back up to the huntress and something suddenly clicked. "Oh for the love of..." He covered his eyes with a hand and looked away. Seriously, he knew that rustling of clothes was bad for stealth and all, but there were limits! "You want something to cover yourself with, I've got spare clothes!" Apparently not, because from the corners of his hand he could see her slinking off again already, off in search of more meat... and leaving this one lying on the ground, unconscious and expertly trussed... but still unguarded. Damn it all. "Screw it," he muttered under his breath. He'd love to make sure that their efforts didn't go to waste and leave their prey out in the open, vulnerable to any predator or scavenger to run off with their first - perhaps only - mount, but he turned and followed suit, doing his best imitation of her crouch as he could manage... though it'd probably look mocking if she ever actually turned around and looked.
Last edited by Nir'wei on Mon May 21, 2018 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 876
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Qit'ria
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Qit'ria didn't bother to listen to the man's complaints about her methods, nor her nudity. Those things were his problems, not hers. If he couldn't keep his manroot in check just because her tits were out, that was his fault, not hers. She had no reason to be ashamed of her body, she knew she had the look of a strong, lethal predator. Smirking as she crouch walked through the forest, wishing she'd only been wearing her loincloth. But alas she had on breeches too. If she hadn't, she'd have removed the loincloth right in his face to further upset him. Maybe next time. It was good to know that nudity upset him though. Maybe she could use it to her advantage later. She settled for constantly looking back at him, under the guise of checking on him, and observing his rather strange style of crouch walking, exposing her breasts to him more. She hoped he hated it.

She stopped suddenly, looking down at the trail. A bunch of fresh hooves had just left the main path, veering down a narrow side path. She held a hand up to Nir'wei to stop as she listened. She could hear the birds through the area, and closed her eyes. She could hear the gentle breeze blowing, shaking the leaves. She could hear Nir'wei's breathing, slow and calm. Then she heard the light and subtle shhhhh. Flowing water. Perfect. She turned to Nir'wei, not speaking for she didn't want them to potentially hear her. She pointed down the trail, held up four fingers, based on the tracks she saw. She then pointed at Nir'wei and then straight down to the spot they stood at, hoping he'd understand that she wanted him to stay here. She then pointed to herself, and made a big sweeping motion around the path, followed by the four fingers moving up the path. She felt the plan was obvious and would work well.

And with a nod, and a slight extra bounce of her perky breasts, just to annoy him, she crept off in a round about manner, branching off away from the side path, moving slow, taking extra caution in both where her feet landed, as well as what she stepped over. She continued in this manner until she reached the water's edge, obscured by a muddy overhang. Peering up the bank, she could see five deer. She cursed herself, she could've sworn it was four. Three large female adults, and two male juveniles. She'd given Nir'wei roughly ten bits to prepare his trap. Hopefully he was ready. She stowed her javelin and bent down grabbing two large rocks, one in each hand. From her hidden vantage point, she heaved the first, lobbing it through the air, watching mud fling off it.

It splashed down heavily in the water right in front of the deer and they scampered away from the water's edge, but remained near. Perfect, Qit wanted them to see her coming in a moment. She ran out around the overhang snarling loudly, and threw the rock in their general direction, not looking to actually hit any of them. The adults turned up the side path, the juveniles following clumsily. She chased after them, wooping loudly, something she wouldn't normally do, but it would at least signal him, to be ready, though he should already be. She took off after them, pulling a javelin out once more, hoping to see some effort from this supposed hunter.
word count: 606
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Nir'wei
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After the first few times catching her breasts every time she turned around, he kept his eyes stoically on her back. He liked her back when she didn't pay attention to him... and when she was fully-clothed. Maybe 'liked' was a bit of a strong word. 'Tolerated' would be better. "You think the Menagerie will be angry with me if I just... tie her up and leave her out here when we're done?" he asked Greyhide, earning a noncommittal mental shrug, lopsided with a little twist of humour. "It wouldn't be hard, I could use her own trousers to gag her... I wouldn't leave her anywhere dangerous, just stuffed under a tree or something. She'd find her way out again, eventually... maybe if she's lucky a Stagrein would find her. She'd need to be careful though; she's so interested in showing her womanparts off, it might give it the wrong idea." That got a real bark of mental laughter and a wicked smile grew over his face. Well, until he realised how strange it must have looked, grinning foolishly while Qit'ria stared at him, unburdened breasts hanging like ripe fruit. He said nothing and continued.

The tracks grew clear up ahead; the group that the lone Hafrein they'd left behind must have broken away from. Hoofprints pressed deep into the mud were the first sign, but as soon as he started to actually sit and look for them, it was like they were everywhere. The leaves either side had looked lopsided and misshapen, but closer inspection proved that was because of the tiny teeth marks littering them where they'd chewed in passing. There were too many hoofmarks to make out how many there were, but as Qit started making some sort of vague hand gestures, it became clear that she knew. Four? Sounded like a good estimate, he couldn't be sure himself. Then... she wanted him to follow the trail while she scouted, maybe? Or... no, stay here while she searched the area? He really couldn't be sure, if this was sign language it was both insultingly difficult to understand and not as elaborate as he thought it should be.

She nodded, he nodded, she turned and left and he tried to hold back his gag reflex. Gods, if she didn't put something on before they started the journey home, he was going to FORCE a shirt on her! "So, how are you going to deal with four Hafrein when they inevitably come down this section of path?" Greyhide asked as he sat in the middle of it, staring up at him with the air of a rueful grin.

"You know just as well as I do that I have absolutely no idea," he muttered back. What did she expect him to do? He didn't have a shovel to dig a pit... and really that was the only thing that sprung to mind when trying to trap a moderate number of large animals. Rope traps? Maybe, if he really knew how to make them, but these were big animals... not to mention, making four in one spot? "... Tripwire?" It was really the best thing he could think of, stopping them for a brief moment and then hitting as many as possible with a healthy dose of arrows and poison. It'd be a hard move though. He'd never been much of a fast shooter, so five arrows in quick succession... he'd be close to them, though. Hiding under the trees just a few steps away. As long as he hit true, it'd work.

Just in case, after pulling out his length of rope, lying it across the trail and positioning himself on one side and Greyhide on the other, he took out eight arrows and lined them up on the ground beside him, each broad tip smeared with a healthy covering of the poison from the vial. Eight, just in case he missed... and as a back-up plan, he smeared a good deal over his own heavy hunting knife as well, kept at his hip. For if things got really hairy.

The thunderous sound of hoofs down a beaten track sprung as soon as he'd finished. It felt like barely ten bits - she really didn't intend to give him much time to prepare in advance, did she?! The trees did a good job of obscuring him for the surprise attack. Both a good and a bad thing, since they also meant he couldn't see them on the advance, instead struggling to roughly time when they would be charging up the track just before the rope. He tugged sharply at the same time as Greyhide and felt the sharp pull as the leading Hafrein snagged on the rope, momentum sending it crashing forward head-over-heels in a tangle. The second Hafrein followed, and the third, some prancing up onto their hind-legs while screaming in an effort to avoid the snag and ending up tumbling backwards or tripping over those behind them in the crowd. It was an absolute mess. Just as he'd hoped.

Switching the length of rope for his bows and pre-poisoned arrows, he lined up the first shot with what he hoped was the first Hafrein and shot as hard as he could at point-blank range into the side of its chest, the arrow digging deep and earning a fresh cry of pain before he grabbed the next arrow, re-drew, aimed, shot. Greyhide took the other side, snapping at the Hafrein and barking, corralling them together and keeping the stragglers from moving too far after they were snagged while Nir'wei released shot after frantic shot, growing sloppy and hitting many of the less-vulnerable regions in the process, but as long as he dosed them and dosed them good, they'd be coming down one way or another, he knew... and that was the hard part. Not the most effective or elaborate trap, he had to admit... but he'd done what he could with the materials he was given!
word count: 1031
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Qit'ria
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Qit'ria was sprinting up the hilly path, javelin at the ready, her whooping having stopped now. She bounded up the rockier path, bounding similar to how a deer might more than her own true Sev'ryn form. She didn't know if it was faster or not, but she didn't care, it felt nicer. She hopped onto a large stone, landing on the ball of her foot, letting it flex down a bit, not enough for the heel to touch, then flexed her entire leg, exploding upward and forward. She continued bounding up the hill in this manner.

Just as she crested it, she heard the bellows of the scared deer ahead of her, and pressed forward faster. Coming around a shrub, she saw two tripped up, and two were being reared up in fear, and the fifth, one of the male juveniles, had just turned toward her, stopping cold as its eyes fell on her. It seemed her partner had done his job. That was good. She snarled at the deer, and it turned, to bound through the shrubbery, off path. Qit'ria's eyes quickly determined the path it would take, when an idea quickly formed itself in her mind. She heaved her javelin forward, ahead of where she knew it would go. It thudded heavily into the trunk of a tree, just in front of the deer. It wobbled a bit, and the hafrein tripped over it, stumbling into a thick bush nearby, getting entangled.

Running up to it, drawing another javelin, she flipped it around. She took it in both hands, and thrust it downward, butt first. The end of the javelin struck the deer in the skull, and it fell limp. Turning away from it, she saw two of the adult females, those that hadn't tripped up, still skittish and confused but not running off, braying loudly, as one female and one male were taken by Nir'wei and his wolf. Three were taken, these two were left. Likely the mothers of the two young males, which was why they weren't leaving immediately.

She heaved her javelin in hand behind the two deer, sinking it into the deer. This drove one forward toward Nir'wei, but the other stalled, scared. Qit'ria ran at it, and slid down onto her ankles, leaning back. Her feat slammed into the hind leg of the deer, then the other. The deer stumbled under the loss of its legs and Qit rolled away to avoid being sat on. She twisted into a crouch and leapt upon the creature's back, gripping its sides with her thighs and knees. She drew another javelin and slipped the shaft under the throat of the deer. The creature struggled as it moved to get back up to a standing position. Qit'ria yanked up on the shaft, pressing it hard to its throat, and then she twisted it hard to one side. The deer struggled and fought back. She then jerked it the other direction but continued to pull it hard against its throat. This time the deer was thrown off balance. It fell over, pinning her knee under its weight.

She continued to fight against its struggles until it finally stopped. She dropped its limp form down and pulled her bruised leg out from underneath it. That brought her count to three deer captured in total. A good haul in her mind. The last one she left to Nir'wei. She sheathed her javelin, and pulled out her coil of rope. She made up a twisting knot harness, tying it around the deer's neck, and a entangled it within its antlers, and then tied the lead to a nearby tree. She then repeated the process for the young male she'd taken down in the brush, still limping mildly on her knee. She figured it'd heal in a few trials.

Once she was done, she hollered in Nir'wei's direction, "You done? I done. Want go?" She figured once the animals awoke, she could use the leads to keep them under enough control to guide back to the first deer she'd taken down, where she could repeat the process, and then take all three back to the big tree. The Man-a-Jerry. And while this job was mildly interesting, Qit found herself hating having to take the animals prisoner. It was... demeaning and insulting. Animals were food, and natural, and shouldn't be forced into servitude and slavery. She knew this would be the last time she'd do work for this tree. Sneering, she had both leads in hand, as she looked upon Nir'wei's work, as the male began to awaken. She yanked it toward her, causing it to stumble a bit. It pulled back. She wrapped the lead rope around her hand a couple more times and jerked it hard back toward her, snarling. It continued to resist a bit, but it was small, so she could keep it under control. Once it was close enough to see its mother, and it calmed down, moving over to her. It stayed close, and was no longer fighting her. Interesting. If she could keep the mother under control, the child would come with it. Good to know. And so, she waited for the mother to awaken.
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Nir'wei
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The first he struck stumbled a few steps before collapsing, tired and stiff from the concentrated poison spreading through its veins. As chaos unfolded, though his shots were growing increasingly frantic and uncoordinated, two solid hits landed into the next female in line, after a glancing blow off the side of its left foreleg; one hitting the middle of its left flank as it struggled to its feet and stumbled past, and the last in the meat of its hindquarters. Greyhide snapped at its ankles threateningly but he knew it wouldn't make it far. He hadn't seen Qit approach, but as he turned back from his latest capture, he caught her blurred form and those damn tits of hers bouncing away... straight off an injured, screaming female stampeding towards him. At least he wouldn't have to chase after it...

Nir'wei tucked his bow tight to his chest and rolled to the side, able to feel the thundering of its hooves as it charged past scraping dangerously close to his poor unarmoured head, rattling his teeth in their gums. The speeding charge was already running faster than he could sprint and gaining distance, he couldn't let it escape, couldn't even rise to his feet because one errant change in direction and it'd disappear behind a tree and become lost in the forest. Nir'wei frantically rolled over onto his back, spread his legs and looked down between them, his bow laid horizontal over his stomach with his last arrow clenched in a fist. At this point he was lucky it was still in his view, but it already felt beyond any distance that his wide-headed arrows would have any impact. He nocked, dragged it back as far as he possibly could, until he swore he could feel the tension in his own arms ready to snap... until he almost reflexively moved his other hand to steady his shuddering aim... and released.

It hit its mark right in the deer's hindquarters - normally a fairly solid blow but nothing substantial, since the fat and muscle absorbed so much impact. The deer screamed like he'd shot it through the chest, almost tripping over itself as it stumbled to a halt and reared, bucking and shaking wildly. He almost worried he'd accidentally shot straight through it, but there stood the quivering arrow, poking out of its... oh. Oh no. By the time he'd stumbled to his feet and rushed to the rearing deer, Greyhide had already rushed ahead, tangling himself between its forelegs and snapping at them constantly to keep the deer backing away from escape. The remaining loops of rope left over from his trap were quickly tied around its neck, dragging it back down to the ground as he swung a second loop around its mouth to keep it closed and control the deers frantic head-shaking. Even then, forced to stare at the ground, it remained agitated... and looking back at where the arrow had hit, he really didn't blame it.

He tied the rope around the nearest tree, and pulled the soiled arrow from the deer. Thankfully the blunt head didn't have any sharp edges, so it wouldn't cause internal damage on the way out... but he dropped the thing where he stood and carefully stepped over it after that. No way was he ever using that arrow again, cleaned or not. "Go!" As predicted, the remaining Hafrein he'd shot down from earlier were still within reach, only now they were lying on their side as the poison took full hold of their bodies, falling short of completely paralysing them but leaving their limbs too sluggish to make any meaningful escape as he cut chunks of rope away from the rope-trap and repurposed them as halters and nooses, all strung tight to the trunks of the nearest trees to be looped together when the effects wore off. The journey home would be plenty of time to check through the light and occasional more serious injuries of the Hafrein, before he got a proper look over them. All in all, a very successful trip, he thought to himself as he looked over his new charge.

"Good." Greyhide agreed. For all his reluctance to be shackled to a contracted hunter - a javelin-throwing contracted hunter, no less! - she'd kept quiet and professional, caught many more than Nir'wei could have done alone in a much shorter time... and, as he looked over her work, she'd done it without causing too much damage. Nothing serious, no deaths. He felt bad for treating her so dismissively earlier; she was quite a skilled hunter and wrangler. However, somehow he didn't think an apology was going to cut it. "Thanks." He returned to the deer and led those still conscious together to the same tree Qit had them huddled around, the act of bringing them back together seeming to soothe the more skittish and agitated few of the herd.
word count: 842
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Oracle
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Oh my :D Qit and Nir were quite the odd couple on this hunting trip. I was grinning from ear to ear while reading the constant back and forth between the two. Qit didn't care what her partner thought of her and Nir was constantly comparing himself to her. It was rather lovely when Nir'wei took a moment to reflect on why he was so irritated by Qit. He missed the freedom that she so freely revels in. Qit herself was a delight, and I didn't bat an eye when she pulled her top off to wrangle the deer, it was all par for the course for her!
Qit'ria

Qit was a beast in this thread. The one thing that I think I appreciated the most about her is how she is always true to herself. She never censors or edits her behavior for anyone else and that takes real courage. As always you did a fabulous job of writing here, everything was easy to follow and a pleasure to read. Qit is a fascinating woman and I'm excited to see where she goes from here.

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15xp : This may NOT be used for Domain Magic

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+10 for capturing mounts for the Menagerie

Rewards and Consequences

N/A

Injuries

N/A

Knowledges

Acrobatics: Running up the base of a tree for increased vertical leap
Detection: The taste of Hafrein urine
Hunting: Using your own scent to drive prey in a specific direction
Poisons: Scarf Rot for tranquilizing animals
Stealth: Taking the longer route to avoid easier detection
Thrown (Javelin): Throwing using movement from the waist up only
Trapmaking: Planning trap locations in blind corners of trails
Trapmaking: Antler snag trap
Trapmaking: Blind trip fall
Trapmaking: Combining multiple traps for best results
Unarmed Combat (Inner Beast): Choke hold to induce unconsciousness
Unarmed Combat (Inner Beast): Using legs to maintain hold on a target

Non-Skill Knowledge
Location - Scalvoris: The Menagerie

Nir'wei

Nir you did a wonderful job of describing your character's inner conflict as he considered both the positives and negatives of working in the Menagerie. I also appreciated the use of your NPCs that you peppered throughout the thread. Greyhide was always there at Nir's back, both supporting and egging him on. You have crafted a fantastic character and I can't wait to read more about him in the future.

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15xp: This may NOT be used for Domain Magic

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+10 for capturing mounts for the Menagerie

Rewards and Consequences

N/A

Injuries

N/A

Knowledges

Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Point-blank shot.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Firing from a lying position.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Don't full-draw during rapid-fire shots.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Using wide-head arrows to deliver payloads, not inflict direct damage.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Proper positioning is key in lining up the perfect shot.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Picking out targets in large crowds.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Knowing the maximum range of your bow.
Ranged Combat (Shortbow): Better to waste some arrows and be sure you hit than conserve them and let your target escape.
Stealth: When in dense foliage, avoid snagging branches from bushes and low trees.
Stealth: Be aware of where you stand.
Stealth: Crouch to keep a low profile and make yourself seem smaller.
Stealth: Roll from ball to heel with your steps to reduce noise.
Stealth: Keep distractions to a minimum to avoid losing concentration.
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word count: 572
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