Sword in hand, Titian struck at the boar before him, slashing through hide.
Torek got his bow out and lined up the best shot he believed he could make the the moment.
Autumn, grabbing another arrow, took aim at the great boar before them and let loose.
After the first slash, Titian skillfully brought the blade back down upon the creature.
With his first arrow being so far off mark, Torek quickly got another to try again and redeem his last action.
Frostbite, who was now flanking with Herger, bit at the boar.
A spectral wind causes leaves to whip around Larin's feet as his magic continues to flow and lightning crackles between his fingers. He reaches out towards the ground beneath the giant boar and dirt becomes slick with ice.
Autumn, Titian, and Frostbite all get good hits in on the boar. Frostbite nips at the hind legs of the beast, but cannot tip the mighty hog.
It stands there, small red eyes glittering with rage; bleeding from numerous wounds. It seems like it should have gone down by now...
Then Larin casts casts his slippery spell, and the beast goes down with a thud. Squealing with rage it scrambles to its hooves.
Frostbite snaps at he boar but gains no pray between it's jaws.
Round 3
Torek breaks from his long silence with a prayer, "Ol'Deadeye guide my shot and finish this fell beast."
Range increment of 110' apply -2 for each increment after the first.
On a 20 attack roll, if this would hit apply critical Damage.
Add to total Damage. Critical X3
He kept up the attack bringing down his morningstar again and again.
;
The boar gains it's feet and gores Titian. This time it's massive tusks rip into the knight's armor and find flesh.
Torek's arrow finds its mark, sinking into the boar's shoulder. The beast rears up shrieking; then collapses, lifeless.
Larin is about to send a blast of electricity into the boar when Torek's arrow ends the massive creature. The ground shakes as the huge boar collapses lifelessly and Larin lets his magic dissipate, the charge grounding away through the earth.
"Is everyone OK?" he asks, looking over at the others near the boar. "Looks like that stew might be on after all," he adds with a grin.
Torek breaths a sigh of relief as the large boar collapses. Chuckling Torek says, "Yes, boil it enough and even its tough muscles will cook soft, well softer." Torek looks quizzical and then says, "Didn't someone say that they wanted this beast dead? This seems to be what was described. Maybe we should take the head? Hmmm, not easy to preserve it though I suppose we could smoke it overnight."
Torek looks up to the sky to see if the weather will hold.
Predict weather.
He follows up with "That will take time, do we camp here?"
"I have some salt we could coat the meat in but I don't have enough for all of it. Well, let me see how much I can get from this great beast first." Autumn said as she moved up, taking out her dagger to work on the large boar.
"We did already begin to set up. Might as well. Plus I can smoke the meat I can't salt through the night." Autumn said with a smile.
"A wild boar is a dangerous creature to be sure, especially one so large. Well done everyone.
"Time for a kip then," Larin says as the energy from the fight drains out of him. "Looking forward to seeing what you can do with all this boar meat Autumn," he adds hungrily.
Autumn looked to Titian, and her face paled before Herger stepped up and healed his wounds. She gave them a smile and nod before she told Titian "Leave me your shirt and tunic and I'll mend them through the night." Autumn promised.
"Well I can make us a roast tonight, and tomorrow morning we'll have bacon." Autumn told Larin with a smile. "Once I finish dressing the boar I'll get started on dinner, and find us a few side dishes. Some mushrooms, maybe some green onions if I can find them." Autumn mused as she worked.
Much of the boar is very tough, but of course there a some tender cuts. The warm weather is a problem when it comes to preserving the meat. As are the flys which are drawn to the kill. Herger finds some herbs to help dress the meat, but not the wild onions he had been hoping for.
Still the boar makes an excellent meal and you are able to preserve several days worth of meat.
He returned a bit disapointed with his findings. It was what it was.
"Well, I was hoping for those wild onions or even some mushrooms for the boar, but I did find some other herbs ol'Deadeye was willing to bring to my attention Autumn."
He began handing over his findings. He scowled at the flies wishing he had a way to shoo them off. They were certainly annoying.
Autumn took aside a fairly sized cut of meat to roll into a roast so that she could make it for tonight. She was working on rolling it and tying it up to put on the spit. However she paused when Herger walked up with his findings. "Thank you Herger." Autumn smiled as she took what he found. "I can mix this together with the breadcrumbs I'm going to make from the little bread we have in our rations." She told him before she gathered the items of interest, trying to juggle it all, and said "They flies can have the rest. I've salted what I could and will smoke the rest tonight. That should keep the flies away from our meat. The rest that we cannot have is theirs... and whatever predators come smelling it." She mentioned.
"It looks like there'll be enough to go around," Larin adds as Autumn starts her work on the boar's carcass. "Though I hope we don't attract any predators, we don't need any more disturbance this evening."
Larin takes a seat next to Autumn as she works. "How did you learn to do all this?" he asks, waving his hand vaguely towards the meat she's working on.
"To dress an animal?" Autumn asked. "I learned it from the hunter who taught me. Though I learned some of the basics from my own father and mother. When father brought a kill my mother would dress it and prep it for eating or storing depending on what it was needed for. Then my father would removed the hide and depending on the animal the horns or tusks. I'd watch them, and help my mother with the cooking since I was the oldest of the children." She explained as she kept working.
"In a village as small as mine you learn to do pretty much everything for yourself. I can cook, weave, sew, even make cheese and ale, oh and work in the garden. Not to mention hunting. Never boring in a small village. You work from sun up to sun down to provide for what is most important in your life. There ar- where, some in the village who took up main tasks, like how I became a hunter, like my aunt on my mother's side was the best weaver and seamstress in the village so if you needed something for an important day you went to her. She had actually made most of my younger sister's wedding gown, we where just adding special touches for her..."
Frostbite had grabbed herself a bone with some of the tougher meat on it and brought it over to the fire next to Autumn while she cooked. The she-wolf chewed away happily, though her mistress looked confused as she had planned to give the she-wolf her own cut of the good meat but she seemed pleased with this.
Evening turns to night as the great boar is strung up and butchered. A portion is cooked while more is salted and smoked. The head is set aside, where it still seems to glare from a red rimmed, evil eye. Just the firelight reflecting in the eye, of course.
As the meat cooked a thought came to the huntress. She took a moment to search for Lemongrass. The frost had passed and if she was lucky some of it would be tall enough to harvest, or more likely she could come across some eucalyptus. She tapped her nose and called upon her inner power to strength it.
Larin feels somewhat ashamed by his limited repertoire of skills compared to Autumn's breadth of abilities. "I didn't learn anywhere near so many things from my family. A bit of book-keeping, a little basic wagon repair, and that's about it. I've never been much of an outdoorsman, though it seems I don't have much choice these days," he says with the hint of a smile.
Autumn looked back at Larin and Titian, she blushed a bit and gave a nod of thanks to Titian. "Larin, we all have our place and we can learn more from others and about ourselves." Autumn told him. "But all here are able and willing to teach you anything we know. Those of us who know many different things, well it is because we had to. There was no one else to do it. We have to have clothes, so you must learn to weave and sew." She explained. She paused a moment in her seeking of plants to walk up next to Larin and Titian. "Most of living out in a place like this is to listen to the voice within and watch those who already call it home, but most importantly not being afraid to ask for help when you need it." Autumn looked at Torek out of the corner of her eye, then to Herger, before she looked back to Larin and Titian. "Something I had to relearn."
"Never be afraid to ask questions of any here. We won't look down upon you just because you don't know something or because you're just learning it. So long as you are applying yourself that is all that matters here." Autumn states as she placed her hand upon Titian's shoulder smiling before she does the same to Larin. "You're one of us now Larin. And we share all we have with pride and acceptance." Her hands leave their shoulder, and she gave a pat to Titian's arm before she moved to try and find the plants she needed. "Here is a bit of interesting knowledge. Flies hate lemongrass and eucalyptus, so I'm going to go find some to keep the head clean from flies. If you wish to come with me to see how to do it, you and anyone else here are welcome to."
The evening after the fight with the boar is spent setting up camp; then in preserving as much of the boar as possible.
In the morning, Autumn and anyone who chooses to join her in looking for herbs set out in quest for the special plants. The area is not well suited for herbs; the pesky brambles choke most other plants out, but you do find some lavender. It is sparse, forcing a long search to turn up enough. As morning progresses, you stop, realizing you heard something. A low groan. It came from a trampled bramble bush nearby. A closer look shows a human figure figure laying under, and partly obscured by the brambles. Flies buzz around the figure.
Autumn paused the moment she heard something. When her mind figured out that it was a groan and her eyes narrowed in on a figure under the brambles Autumn sprung into action.
Dropping the lavender she ran to the figure and pushed side the brambles, trying to pull them up and away from the figure. "GUYS!! Please help! I found someone! HERGER! AUGUSTINA! I need you now please!!" Autumn shouted. She didn't care about the thorns digging into her flesh or ripping through her clothes. She just needed to make sure there was enough room to drag this person out from under the brambles without hurting them. Still, the pain was there, and the warmth of her own blood running down her hands and arms wasn't something to forget easily.
Larin's head spins round at Autumn's shout and he pushes his way towards her through the dense underbrush. He keeps out of the way as the others approach what looks to be a person under some brambles. He takes up position near Titian, watching out for danger.
He moved as soon as he heard the shouts, though not as quickly as some of the others. He bit back a curse when he managed to finally get to the others already his hand moving torwards his holy symbol.
The fellow is dressed in buckskin, so probably a hunter. He is fevered, and semi-conscious. The cause of the fever is his badly broken and infected leg. Herger realizes the leg is gangrenous, and may have to be removed.
"Get him something to bite on. The leg is bad. I dont know if I can heal it and we may have to amputate it. I'll try to do what I can."
He was nervous, it was obvious he was nervous.
Hearing that Autumn looked down, seeing the man's leg. She couldn't help but wonder if this had been her father's end as well...
However she pushed that from her mind and tried to help.
"Herger, just breath." Autumn said gently. "Let's bind his leg and get him back to camp and then we can use the kit I put together for you." She added, trying to keep him calm and talk him through everything just so he knew he wasn't alone.
Larin stands out of the way as Autumn and Herger start to work on the injured man. "Do you need some help?" he calls over to them while he keeps his eyes open for anything theat might be trying to approach them through the forest.
"Get some water ready, he will need it. Some bread too, If we can get his leg set and somewhat healed we will need to get some food and water in in. No telling how long he has been here."
He added after taking a deep breath. In truth he nothing close to a healer by non magical means. Of course he had done some studying, but pratical applications had been lacking all his life. He needed to lift the legs, He needed to make sure the bones were in there proper place.
"I may need you to hold him down Titian, This will no doubt be very painful to him and he may struggle."
He added gritting his teeth and prepping himself to try again.
"Can we get him out from under the thornbush first?" Autumn asked as the pain of the thorns in her skin where finally starting to take their toll.
"Larin! Run and get my bed roll. We can move him onto it and use it to carry him back to camp." Autumn asked of him. She realized it was the only thing they had that could carry him with ease.
Larin does as he's told, grabbing Autumn's bedroll from her pack to help get the injured man out. He pulls it out and rushes it back to Autumn, undoing the straps and finding an open area to lay it out in. "It's ready," he tells her, stepping out of the way.
With Titians help he lifted the man onto the bedroll out of the brambles. He was glad that Autumn mentioned it, he was so distracted with the mans injuries he didnt look at the surroundings. It seemed she was getting good at taking care of his focus.
"Had I thought about it, I could have had magical aid to help with his fever and infection. I cant help but to feel the fool. Damn trolls."
He began as he once more tried to set the leg properly this time. He had to time the set with the healing spell.
Herger does his best, but realizes that without more powerful healing magic, the gangrene will kill the hunter. The man is in bad shape; unlikely to live the night. Herger makes the decision, amputating the leg. Then he calls on Erastil’s power to heal the stump. The cleric’s rough field surgery seems to be a success; the hunter passes into a deep slumber as his fever begins to subside.
When they got him from under the bramble bush, Autumn finally let go. The bush pulled away from the Agathion Aasimar, ripping at flesh and leaving behind small thorns in her skin. But she hardly made a sound."You did the best you could Herger, tis all any could ask of you."
Sadly the man's leg had to be removed, and Autumn knew it would be the loss of this man's ability to work. Without something as powerful as regenerate there was little hope for him. However nothing could be done now. She let out a sigh and allowed Herger and Titian to carry the man back to their camp using her bedroll. She didn't sleep anymore so she didn't mind letting him use it for the time being.
"We'll have to head back to Oleg's as soon as we can." Autumn said when they returned to camp. She had taken a seat to pick the thorns from her hands and arms. "He need to be taken back to somewhere that can care for him." She pointed out.
Larin keeps away from Herger as he has to remove the injured man's leg. The sounds of the procedure are unpleasant enough that he tries to block them out by busying himself tidying the camp and playing with Frostbite.
"There doesn't seem to be much more we can do for him out here," Larin agrees. "Can we tie him to one of the horses to get him to Oleg's?"
|
Looking around Titian addresses the others.
"He is not fit for riding. There is another solution. Take two young trees, bind the ends together at one end and tie the other two ends on booth sides of the saddle. You then have a V. Put a blanket over the V and tie it to the poles. You can lay the person on the blanket and drag it after you."
It takes two days to return the hunter back to Oleg's using Titian's travois. The hunter regains consciousness late the first day. He says his name is Vekkel Benzen. he had been out hunting the great boar, known by the name"Tuskgutter". The beast had been a bane to many a hunter over the years. Vekkel had thought to bring down the beast. The hunt had not gone well for him. He is quite glad to have been saved, even if he did lose a leg.
Back at Oleg's he offers his composite longbow, and 6 special arrows as a reward for saving him.
"I'll go back to live with my uncle in Restov." He explains. "Won't be drawing a bow no more. If you can make use of it, I'd be satisfied."
Larin spends some time talking with Vekkel while he recovers, learning more about the area and about what it takes to survive in the Stolen Lands. He hopes that Vekkel will still be able to live a fulfilling life even though he's a leg short, just like his great uncle Abel had been after his unfortunate cart accident.
"Where do we head next?" he asks the others after breakfast.
Torek assists with the hunter and doesn't demure at another return to Oleg's. At Larin's most pertinent question though he finally pipes up. "That is the key question, we keep being diverted from any task we set by various needs. That's not to say it isn't necessary just that we are making little progress." Torek continues, "Once again we are faced with many choices and once again I will say that if we try to chase them all, that strongly risks failing all."
Torek ends with "I think we must place removal of this false bandit king as our first act. That should help to make our endeavors here easier, though far from easy. Yes that means not getting to the settlers or hunt for the temple or anything else we might do for some time. However we are not being swift on those tasks now anyway. Well, I've said enough, time for all to be heard."