Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

It was the middle of the night when Azrael felt Tollak Ra shaking him awake. He instinctively reached for his sword but Tollak stopped him with a gesture and assured him there was no coming danger. Azrael sat up an yawned, he blinked a few times to try and clear the persistent blur from his inverted vision. He faired better in the night now than in the trial but he still slept on a normal schedule to keep up appearances. Well, he slept on a somewhat normal schedule when he wasn't out until dawn drinking to 'learn about the culture' of whatever tavern he was in. Tollak seemed more awake than him. Much more awake. Something must have been bothering him for a while before he decided to wake Azrael about it.

"Well, what is it?" Azrael asked with a little unintended irritation. Tollak looked outside the flap of the tent again and then back at Azrael with an expression that gave nothing away. It was irritating.

"You brought your bow, right?" Tollak asked. Azrael gave him a confused nod and waited for further explanation which came after a few trills. "Something deer shaped came by the tent a few bits ago. We should hunt and eat it."

"Right now? Really?" Azrael wasn't going to reject him but he certainly wasn't thrilled about the hour that had been chosen. He had come out into the forest with Tollak Ra to learn about the wildlife in Melrath and, if he could, to learn a little bit about navigating the forest from a Ydalir.

"A good hunter is always ready and only dead scouts sleep." Tollak said with an enthusiastic pat on Azrael's back before he disappeared out of the tent. Azrael sighed and rolled over, pushing himself up onto his feet and strapping his sword to his belt before picking up his shortbow. He turned around a few times looking for his quiver of arrows and found it leaning against the tent wall. He grabbed the quiver and set it on his hip beside his sword before following Tollak outside.

The forest would have been eerie at night if Azrael didn't see it so perfectly. The spirit's gift helped for more nocturnal activities. Tollak did not seem to have the same advantage. He stepped into the night with narrow eyes while Azrael walked into the dark with eyes wide. "Look here," Tollak beckoned him over quietly and Azrael took a tentative step towards him to see what he was talking about. Tollak gestured towards the ground beside them. "Do you see them?"

Azrael looked at the dirt for a few trills and then back at Tollak, "See what?"

"Deer tracks, right here." Tollak pointed to indentations in the ground that Azrael had seen but overlooked because he thought nothing of them. "Fresh tracks too. It'll be good practice for you. Note the indentations and try to follow them. Stay low, move quietly. If the deer sees you first, you won't see it again." Azrael knelt down to get a closer look at the tracks that Tollak was showing him. It seemed easy enough but the haze of sleep lingering over him reminded him that Tollak had likely done this in the middle of the night to challenge him. Tollak didn't know about his eyes. A set of fresh tracks in the night would be easier to follow than a set of fresh tracks in the daylight.

Azrael put a hand on his arrows to keep them from bumping against each other and making noise as he and Tollak moved from their camp into the forest. They kept themselves beside the tracks to avoid disturbing them and after a few bits, the dirt on the ground seemed to grow harder. The tracks became more difficult to follow and it seemed like another animal had come through before them and created another trail. "How do I know which tracks are the deers?" Azrael whispered to the Ydalir who knelt down to examine them.

"Both the heavy tracks are deer... and it seems some smaller creatures have come through as well." Tollak said, scratching his chin subconsciously. "A rabbit and some squirrels maybe. Not the worst to hunt but not better than the deer. Look here, these are rabbit tracks," Tollak said as Azrael knelt down beside him to see what he was talking about. The rabbit tracks were much smaller than the deer tracks but that was to be expected. They were almost cute, very round. "And these are a squirrel. A little sharper, they climb." Azrael could see what Tollak was talking about. The squirrel tracks looked a little bit more like fingers than the rabbit did. However the deer was what they were interested in.

"So which deer is our deer?" Azrael asked, prompting Tollak to look at the tracks again.

"These are more fresh, follow them."

"How do you know?"

"They're deeper. Tracks fade over time. Let's go." And they did. Azrael took the lead once more and they didn't have to walk for more than a dozen bits before Tollak put a hand on Azrael's shoulder and stopped him. Azrael looked at the Ydalir who pointed a bit ahead of them at a small buck scratching itself against a tree. Azrael crouched lower to the ground and drew an arrow from his quiver as quietly as he could. "Aim carefully, you won't get another shot." Tollak whispered to the mortalborn. Azrael nodded and adjusted his fingers on the bowstring.

He took a deep breath and brought the bow up for a trill before lowering it to watch the buck again. It had stopped scratching itself and was gnawing at some leaves. He didn't like it. Hunting. He'd enjoyed the tracking but now, having to put the beast down felt wrong. It was a nice creature... but if Azrael didn't put the arrow in it, Tollak would. Azrael took another breath and drew back on the bowstring, pulling it to his cheek and taking aim.

Then he let the arrow fly.

"You did well." Tollak said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two of them since Azrael missed the buck. He wasn't sure if he'd really missed the shot or if he'd aimed high on purpose but his arrow struck a tree beside the buck and scared the creature off. Azrael put his bow back across his body and walked with the Ydalir to where the buck had been. There were tracks that they could follow further, but Tollak did not want them to lose track of where their camp was. He called off the hunt, having decided that Azrael learned enough about tracking for the night. He was trying to be encouraging because Azrael had passed his test but the mortalborn seemed conflicted. "What's on your mind?"

"Is it strange that I found it easier to shoot arrows at men trying to kill me than a deer enjoying its night?" Azrael asked Tollak to get the concern off his chest. Tollak Ra gave Azrael an odd look for a trill and then shook his head.

"I think that is a good thing. It should always be easier to kill things that are trying to kill you." Tollak said, "When it comes to hunting, it'll always be up to you to determine whether or not to shoot the arrow. There are men who hunt for entertainment, for trophies, and then there are those who hunt for the right reasons. Food, clothing, survival. I would ask that when you use the skills I'm teaching you, you only use them for the right reason."

"Of course. I don't think I enjoy it enough to do it for sport." Azrael said before Tollak gestured for him to wait and walked into his tent. Azrael took his bow and quiver off, setting them both inside his tent and returning to find Tollak holding a kit for making traps.

"No deer, but if we set these out, maybe we get a rabbit or some squirrel in the morning. Are you familiar with traps?" Tollak asked, prompting a small smile to spread over Azrael's face. He nodded. It was, in fact, it made up the majority of his hunting knowledge.

"Wolfmice traps, yes, not many others. I tend to set traps to protect my camp more than to catch animals." Azrael replied causing Tollak's brow to rise.

"Wolfmice?" Tollak repeated, "You're well traveled. There are none of those in these lands. Come, help me set a few rabbit traps and I'll tell you about some of the stranger creatures you might find in the Myrkvior." It might have seemed like a request and a trade, but it felt like a command. Azrael's eyes shifted back towards his tent. Part of him wanted to sleep but he knew it was important to learn what he could. Tollak Ra was exceptionally tolerant of Azrael's vagueness and he was good at what he did. The least Azrael could do was help him set traps.

It didn't take long but the rabbit traps were nothing exceptional. Tollak showed Azrael how to set them up and Azrael thought himself a little more foolish for not having figured it out himself to begin with. The trap was just a cage Tollak had designed to close as soon as the rabbit entered it. The set up was mostly erecting the cages, pulling back the trap door, placing a few cut up vegetables inside to lure the animal, and then setting the trigger so that when the creatures came in for the bait, they'd knock the door shut. While they worked, Tollak told him about the wildlife in the forest. Some of which they had already seen the tracks for, and others which they had not. Azrael geared his questions towards the more dangerous creatures- predators he needed to be concerned with while he was moving through the forest. They worked for a break and when all the traps were set, Azrael returned to bed and Tollak to his watch.