7/7/1 AME

Although me and Lana are not an actual Rangers yet due to not completing the training and passing the final tests, we definitely should be considered for early promotion.

It turns out that the plan to go out for the extended scouting mission to quell public worry was okayed (probably under duress) and due to the lacking numbers, many recruits were essentially deputized into being Rangers for the trip. This wasn’t made out to all Rags though, and really only to those that the Range Masters deemed trained enough to hold their own out in the Wilds. Range Master Davith picked Lana and me for the trip, deeming the two of us to be the better and best handled to the Wilds.

While this is was flattering in a sense, I both don’t and do regret accepting the mission. Despite how many times Davith’s has told me it wasn’t, I feel partially responsible for how things turned about.

The scouting mission was to go out for some 20 miles out and to try and scout the general area on the way out and back in. This would entail marking down any monsters found, creatures discovered, and notable things such as new plant growths or changes in the natural ecosystem of the Wilds and making note of any changes to the typography of the area. It sounds simple in concept but as one thinks about the mission, it becomes clear that this isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Due to walking in uneven terrain and the need for sleep and rest, the trip out is expected to take three days if the pace is good. With the distance being quite small, it was understood that horses wouldn’t be used for this as it both lowered the available pool of candidates and make the trip a bit more dangerous as we become larger targets. This is not counting the need to change directions to avoid other monsters of other things, the need to mark things down for study or report, the need to make camp and what that entails as well as the possibility of changes to the general area that wasn’t accounted. It was not going to be an easy mission but this was to be expected due to the increase in pressure to perform by the other members of what is being referred to as the council. They wanted something from the Wilds that can be considered proof that things weren’t going to hell in a handbasket.

I write this and my future report with the knowledge that they probably didn’t get what they wanted.

The trip started out fine. The first day of walking was actually relaxing and wasn’t too hard. Lana did find the silence between us to be a bit suffocating but Davith and I were able to occasionally keep her conversational company as we hiked out the first couple of miles. It was near the end of the second day of walking that we hit the 12th mile and when talking sort of died out. Not that unexpected; conservation of energy, keeping quite became more advisable, trying to piece what that sound was kept the conversation down to a minimum. We really only talked when making camp, where half of it was instructions and tips on making camp while the other half was more of a review of what was seen and observed as we noted it all down. It doesn’t seem like a hard trip but the fact that we clearly weren’t physical conditioned for it was seen by the end of the third day, where I can actually see my handwriting that night being incredibly hard to read. It took me 3 hours to read it through when I got back home for my report.

This is why we slowed down a bit on the fourth day out, slowing down our pace significantly. Daviths thought it better to keep our energy at reasonable levels rather than focus on gaining distance. It was a smart choice that just so happened to be the wrong one at the time.

See, the scouting trip wasn’t hard at first and we were making good head-way. There weren’t that many actual living things of interest on the way out. We found some changes in the terrain in the area; some strange new plants and ivies that we collected sample of for review, new rock formations in the area that lead down (we didn’t explore deeper) and even some new trees that Daviths swears weren’t there before. But that was it on the way out.

By early in the 5th day, we had reached the goal point. We were supposed to essentially double back but with the added goal of making the trip longer to do a more thorough scouting of the area. This basically meant taking a none-linear way back home to scout as much ground as possible.

The wrong choice was slowing down as we found out the reason why there wasn’t any animal life we had found on the way out.

It turns out we had been traveling on a similar path to an orc hunting band. A large one. One that had been chasing several larger beasts on a hunt.

We meet one of those beasts and Lana managed to get a very lucky shot off on it before it attacked us, killing it one blow with a .45 Gov from her rifle (apparently from her dad’s collection). We had been hiding in the area because while we had been hearing the hunt going on, we hadn’t been able to pin-point where it had been coming from. It came at us with a surprise and got a surprise in return. While we didn’t get to study the beast, I can remember it being bigger than a bear. Much bigger with horns and tail as long as I was tall. I can also remember it being more insectoid than the rest of it which was perplexing.

We would have probably studied it if we had time but by the orc hunting party hadn’t been that far before and by the time we had done a basic inspection of the beast, they were close enough that we heard them coming. We ignore the inspection of the body to get moving away from the band quickly. We basically made a heavy sprint for a minute before falling into a light jog for an hour to attempt to get away from the orc hunting band. We had thought we had managed to avoid them but forming a path to head back to town and making headway for maybe an hour, we heard them coming around.

From what Range Master Davith had said at the time, them following our trail wasn’t unlikely due to how fast we exited the area. While we hadn’t set up camp or anything, when we broke out into a sprint to get away from the orc band, we definitely left enough of a trail for them to follow if they felt so inclined to do so. Alongside the weather being relatively nice and stable, there was no real way to hide or obscure any of the tracks if they don’t do anything consciously remove or suppress them. As it stood, while we had managed to avoid direct contact with them, they still could follow our trail and that we had to pick up the pace a bit to avoid them catching them.

We did so and started making our way back at a bit of an increased pace. We thought that taking this pace we’d be able to either keep them out of reach or just move away for enough for them to eventually lose interest. We were wrong in thinking they would as when we started to make camp for the night, Lana managed to hear them and after climbing a tree for some vantage saw that they were probably couple or so miles back.

We didn’t camp that night or the night after as we had to keep up the pace in the hopes that we would lose the orc hunting party wouldn’t reach us and by the third day of keeping the pace, we were faltering. It was getting hard to keep the pace and whatever rations we had were being burned through faster than anticipated. Lana argued that we should try and take a small break to at least try and catch our breath. Range Master Davith said that the fact that the orcs were managing to keep up means they hadn’t been taking breathers either. While my mind agreed with his assessment, it didn’t stop my body from wanting to have us follow Lana’s idea.

After a bit more back and forth, we eventually decided to continue for another half a day before settling down for rest and watch before we get moving again. It was a bit more bearable for that half day as the prospect of that rest kept us going at a steadier pace than the day before.

When we got around to that half-day mark, we found a decently shaded spot to rest in. it was a small area where the trees were a bit denser packed and had a downwards slope. It wasn’t a great spot to stop for but we had figured that the area was dense enough that any track would be harder to find, the area would allow for us to hide if we tried to do so and had just enough of a visual to be able to see all.

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I wish we hadn’t taken that break.

It was only going to be 30 mins. We would take turns keeping a watch out between the three of us and we would be off again. It was about 12 minutes into that break that trouble started.

Don’t know how but the orc party were still on our trail and they managed to catch up to us in in the small amount of time. It’s not like we had seen them on the occasion we had looked back and although the pace had faltered at times, it was never for so long that they could have caught us within so little time. However they did it, they caught up to us at the worst possible moment.

We were caught off-guard and I was nearly impaled by a spear. Only managed to dodge it at the last second because I turned in time to see the spear hit its arc before flying at me, smashing through a couple tree branches as it did. I think the branches might have been the key factor in me not taking a spear to the chest but I’m not willing to test that theory.

The moment, the spear nearly struck was the moment they all seemed to descend upon us. I couldn’t tell you how many there were. Not enough time to count but I would definitely say that it was at least 35 of them.

We had to book it before being overrun. It was terrifying. Having such a large band chasing you and chucking spears that could only take a second or so to look back to try and avoid. Yet despite the horde, we were managing to survive. I’m pretty sure I jinxed us when the thought “We might get out of this alive” crossed my mind as maybe twenty minutes after the initial meeting with the orc band, Range Master Davith, who had been occasionally taking pot shots at the orcs with his old Ruger-5.7, took an arrow to the shoulder.

Neither Lana or I saw it when it happened but we did hear him scream out in pain. I don’t know which one of us turned to see & call out for it him but that was quickly followed by another arrow to his side. We had stopped by that point and I know I took some shots with my rifle to attempt to either take down or just keep the orcs away. I regret now taking the Savage Impulse on this mission. I like it and I’m good with it but it doesn’t do well in scenarios I’ll probably be finding myself in. I think I got used to placing shots with a bolt action because I could take time between shots. Fat-help that did when being run down by a band of orcs.

I don’t know how many Lana and I managed to hit in that small grab for Range Master Davith but it probably wasn’t even a dent in their numbers.

If, as whoever is reading this, you’re wondering how I’m still alive for me to write what your reading, then just know that bad luck sometimes follow more bad luck. And this situation was terrible for all involved.

But we managed to pry survival out from destruction.

When we managed to get to Davith and Lana was doing a quick examination of his injuries, a strange horn-like sound bellowed behind the orcs which suddenly broke the whole situation into a confusion. The orcs hunting us had a sudden change in plans and suddenly stopped, quickly searching around for the source of the noise. A few moments after the sound, another volley of arrows appeared, but this one a lore more accurate and aimed at the large pack of orcs. This sudden change in events cause total chaos as the sounds of fighting could be heard from the back of the orc party. Whatever it was big enough that it caused a lot of the orcs hunting us to turn back and face whatever threat was coming.

Lana and I managed to pick up Davith during the commotion and managed to run off with him. We tried running with him but due to size and exhaustion, we could only manage maybe 8 minutes of that. When we found that we hadn’t been chased, we quickly attempted to administer whatever first-aid we’ve learned.

Two arrows in the body can be deadly if placed right. The blow Davith had taken to the shoulder was definitely more the serious of the two at the time and so we tried to treat it first. Davith argued that we should treat the one to his side first and Lana disagreed. I managed to shout both of them down and told Lana to work on the side abdomen wound while I took care of the one in his shoulder.

I will tell you it wasn’t an easy fix. The arrow in his side didn’t matter as much as that one had managed to go all the way through, the only requirement was breaking off the arrow head and pulling the arrow out. The one in his shoulder hadn’t gone all the way through but had almost done so. Due to us finding out it was barbed on first initial pull, we had to force it though the shoulder to get the arrow out.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience and I’m somewhat amazed that I didn’t throw up at all during it all.

After patching up Davith, we took the time to re-pack everything and reevaluate the situation. We discussed the events and what we should do. After some talk we decided that with Davith injured and only patched up minor-ly, we needed to get back to town and get medical attention. Anything before that would constitute the mission as it could lead to the death of Ranger and one of the key points of this adventure was to assure the public that things were fine after the earthquake. Coming back with a dead ranger would have had the opposite effect.

Daviths had said he was okay to walk for back and we made quickly planned out the shortest and least strenuous path back to town. Lana & I shouldn’t have trusted Range Master Davith as although we took a pretty slow pace to head back, he looked terrible the entire time.

This only worsened as he collapsed the next day after packing-up camp.

Lana freaked out as she thought that he had died due to their improper and untrained first aid. I went to check for a pulse and his breath. I was only a little more level-headed due to a mixture of tired thinking and muted panic.

He was alive thankfully but we were still about 2 days out from the town.

I wasn’t going to leave Range Master Davith to die but Lana wouldn’t go out to get us help like I was suggest, countering with the idea of the orcs coming back to get us.

I will admit the thought crossed my mind but I also thought I would be able to least drive them away with some good shots from Davith’s rifle. Don’t know why I thought that now I’m writing this down but I’ll blame it on the sleep deprived mind. As is, she had managed to convince me to make a makeshift stretcher with some branches, ropes and belts to carry him back to town in. It wasn’t well-made stretcher and Davith definitely sagged a bit while in it but it allowed for Lana and I to move at a faster pace than if it was just me carrying the older Ranger.

Despite this small increase in pace, we still had to trek through the night in the hopes of getting to the town faster. We couldn’t increase the pace too much due to how the poor the stretcher was and we had to take periodic breaks to check on Range Master Davith’s condition. Due to those restriction, keeping a steady pace through the night for the last two days of the trek back to town was hard and at times confusing. Probably not helped by the lack of sleep and rest from us.

I’ll admit I almost cried when I saw it crest over the horizon. Lana said she had seen in but a part of me doubted it since I was pretty sure I had been hearing things. Whispers and steps around us. But I never saw anything when I looked in the direction the sounds were coming from. So I assumed that the sleep deprivation was getting to me and I was imagining sounds. Like Lana saying we had made it.

The moment we were close enough to the town to shout, we started hollering for a medic and for medical attention. The town’s watch managed to hear us and got us an ambulance by the time we had reach the road. I was surprised at the response of the ambulance but I found out later than this had been prepared for. Turns out we had been only the third Ranger party to come back and out of those three, were the in the middle of the pack in terms of health and numbers.

Team #1 had nearly lost a guy to a monster, losing a leg and had to cut back earlier than planned. Only one member of Team #2 came back at all and the guy is still not talking straight. I’m going to try and ask him about what he saw later just to try and maybe get some additional information for my report to the Head Ranger.

It’s been two days since we got back. Lana and I crashed almost immediately after sitting down and delivering Davith to the ambulance. Once he was in the ambulance, I could feel a weight lift from my shoulders and let out a large breath that I wasn’t truly holding. I’m still unwinding from the experiences. It’s not been great. I’ve had to report to the Head Ranger and he wants Lana and I to give a full report as to what happened and what we saw. I’m only writing this now down now because I’m going to crash again and I want something to read and write down for the report I have to write later.

We haven’t heard back from the Hospital and although I haven’t been out the prison since I got back. Been too tired to go out. I’m discovering new aches every two hours and its been fun to find out how tired you are when just getting up to get lunch was exhausting enough make you want to nap after you sit down.

I’ve heard from Dorian that other Ranger Troops came back and that they weren’t looking much better.

I’m slightly worried about how this whole thing turned out.

I’ll get to my report soon. I’m just going to rest my eyes a bit before that.