Seeing his reaction, Ograch and Liv drew back from the battle in the glade, following him as he retreated. They found Lanek breathing heavily at the edge of the grove. Oddly enough, despite the obvious shock and anxiety that Lanek was experiencing, his companions could also see a look of wonder on his face.
That is terrifying and awesome at the same time! That thing looks identical to every drawing and mock-up I have ever seen of a Utahraptor, right down to the claw on its foot and the feathers! One thing is for damn sure, I don’t want to mess with a fucking dinosaur if I don’t have to.
“Lanek? Do you know what that thing is?” Ograch asked in concern.
“I don’t know what you would call them here, but it looks like a creature from my world that went extinct millions of years ago. We only ever found bones and had to extrapolate what they looked like from there. It looks like our paleontologists were pretty spot on with their theories on how it would have looked. What do you call them?”
“No idea, I didn’t get around to identifying it and I’ve never seen one before. How about you, Liv?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
A thought occurred to Lanek that sent a chill up his spine. “Ograch, those massive monsters your people claimed to have seen in these mountains, did they look anything like that?”
“Some of the description matches, but the ones that our elders claim to have seen were supposedly much larger.”
Good lord, were there actual dinosaurs in this mountain range? Or is it just one or two creatures that happen to resemble them?
Lanek looked back at Ograch and noticed him staring intently into the grove. “Sorry, but I don’t think the boar is going to survive this fight.”
The hobgoblin shook himself out of his reverie before responding. “I wasn’t thinking about the boar. I feel something pushing me toward the feathered thing. I think the Hordefather is guiding me.”
Or trying to get you killed. How the hell are we supposed to tame a Utahraptor?!
“Shit. Fine, let’s get closer while they are still fighting. At least then we should be able to identify the thing before the fight is over.” As they approached the battle, they could hear shrieks of pain and warbling sounds of distress. It sounded like the boar wasn’t going down easily.
When they came within sight of the battle once more, Lanek was surprised at the sight. The boar had slammed the feathered monster into the rock it had been resting on, massive tusks piercing its hide even as it desperately kicked with its back feet in an attempt to disembowel the boar. The boar was clearly dying, but it seemed intent on taking its opponent with it.
Lanek looked over at Ograch and shouted. “Go! It’s now or never. If we don’t get the boar off of it, they are both going to die.”
Ograch didn’t bother to respond, he just began firing arrow after arrow into the boar as Liv approached from the flank and started stabbing with her spear. Lanek called forth Kazuma and Sanguineus, the great wolf nipping at the boar’s legs while the cat darted in swiftly for a few slashes along the monster’s flanks before retreating to a safe distance.
Lanek sent out his whip, each strike aiming for the boar’s eyes, trying to get it to turn its attention away from its enemy. Finally, one of Ograch’s arrows pierced the boar’s throat as it turned its head to protect its eyes from Lanek’s strikes. As the boar choked on its own blood, a swipe from its foe tore out the rest of its throat and cleanly severed an artery judging from the amount of blood that spurted into the air.
The boar finally went limp and the feathered victor gave a last warbling call of victory before collapsing on top of the boar. “Quick, take all of the potions we brought from the city and get to work.” Lanek called out to Ograch as he handed every potion from his pack to the hobgoblin as Liv did the same.
When Ograch approached the creature, it lifted its head and hissed threateningly. The threat was a hollow one, however, as the creature didn’t have the energy left to follow through. In order to keep his friend safe, Lanek utilized [Wild Communion].
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Instantly, Lanek could feel the creature’s despair. It knew it was dying. Lanek sent soothing thoughts to the creature as he activated [Identify].
Forest Raptor
lvl 23
Forest raptors are feared predators that reside far from civilization. While they are powerful apex predators, their fearsome reputation and appearance has historically made them a target for adventurers and hunters looking to exterminate a threat while also making money by selling their organs to apothecaries and alchemists. However, as these hunters quickly learned, a forest raptor rarely travels alone and woe to any who encounter a forest raptor in the company of its kin.
Lanek reached out to the forest raptor as Ograch struggled to get it to accept the healing potions. Please, calm down. He’s trying to help you, those things he is trying to give you can heal your wounds. That’s it, relax.
Ograch blew out a sigh of relief as the forest raptor allowed him to pour the potions into its open mouth. Good. Where is the rest of your pack?
He felt a wave of grief pierce through him, followed by images. Lanek saw a group of forest raptors running alongside a larger specimen that was obviously an evolved form. He suspected this was their mother. As they ran, the ground shook and a massive horned bipedal humanoid creature slammed into the evolved raptor and snapped its neck with ease. The rest of the raptors, seeing their mother fall, panicked. In their panic, they scattered. The raptor lying before Lanek could hear screeches from its brethren, but it could not know if they survived.
Lanek broke the connection and relayed everything he had learned to Ograch. The hobgoblin reached down and began stroking the raptor’s face soothingly as he fed it the last of the healing potions. The forest raptor was blinking slowly, clearly exhausted.
Ograch surprised the rest of them by standing abruptly and gesturing for them to follow him. “We need to leave her. She’ll be fine, she just needs some rest.”
“Why are we leaving? I thought you wanted to tame her?” Lanek asked.
“I don’t want to pressure her or intimidate her with our numbers. Let’s face it, we probably look like a nasty threat in her condition. I’ll check back with her in the morning. If she is still here, I will try to tame her then.”
Lanek nodded, but decided to take precautions just in case. The last thing he wanted was for the forest raptor to be attacked in its weakened state and killed. As a result, Lanek tasked Kazuma and Sanguineus to watch over her as she slept and to take some of the boar to feed themselves, but to leave most of it to the raptor.
With that, the party returned to the tower, all of them lost in thought. Ograch was clearly thinking about potentially taming the raptor and Liv was simply thinking about how strange the creatures in the south were. For his part, Lanek was still somewhat in shock at finding a dinosaur that he actually recognized.
----------------------------------------
That night, Lanek woke up to the sound of a warbling cry outside of the tower. He reached out to Kazuma and Sanguineus and instantly relaxed when they showed no signs of alarm or distress. In the darkness of the tower, Lanek watched as Ograch stood and walked outside. Trusting in his companion, Lanek summoned the furballs back to him and released them into the tower where they all went to sleep.
----------------------------------------
The next morning found Lanek standing atop the remnants of the wall connecting the two towers and smiling as he watched Ograch feed and talk to the forest raptor in the field below. The hobgoblin was beaming in delight as the raptor delicately pulled strips of meat from his hand, being exceedingly careful to not harm her benefactor.
Lanek descended from the wall and approached the two, reaching out to the raptor as he did. After a quick conversation with the creature, Lanek slapped Ograch on the back in congratulations.
“I see you pulled it off. Congrats, man!”
“How did you know it was finished? I could have still been taming her.”
“She told me. Also, she is quite happy with you and your arrangement.” At Lanek’s words, Ograch’s smile grew even more.
“I’m happy to hear that. Her name is Reaver, by the way.”
“Reaver? Did you name her?”
“No, I just felt it when the bond was formed. Reaver was the closest translation I could come up with and she seemed to approve when I called her that out loud. Oh, and she is still a juvenile.”
“Ah, good to know that she is going to get bigger so we can warn everybody. So, what do you want to do now? I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to head back to Caelis, it doesn’t look like you can ride Reaver without a saddle of some kind.”
“I can’t. She is definitely strong enough to carry me, but the only thing I could grip without one is her feathers and I don’t want to rip those out accidentally. Besides, I also want to get her some barding to keep her safe as well. But, I don’t think it would be fair for me to leave before we can help Liv find her bear, or at least to make an attempt.”
Hearing Ograch’s words, Reaver warbled at him and nudged him with her snout. Ograch looked at her for a moment before his eyes widened in surprise.
“What’s up?” Lanek asked.
“She just sent me a vision, I think. It looks like she knows where we can find some bears!”