“I’ve been wondering, but are you and D’Vaen evolved?” I asked D’Vorak. We were nearing the end of the first day of travel, and he had been tutoring me on what to pay attention to as we led the party.
“Not yet. I’m not sure what D’Vaen needs, but I would like to work a bit more before attempting it. There’s a slight difference between Night Hunter and Night Stalker.” He said.
“I see,” I nodded, “I’m assuming you need to hunt several different species at night to get it?”
“As a basis, but that’s not all. There are plenty of hunting skills you need to rank up as well.” He chuckled. We sauntered on in silence for a bit, as I tried to keep what he was teaching me in mind. Insect and bird sounds were coming from all directions, while the underbrush was rather quiet. There were a few birds I could see flying, but they didn’t seem distressed.
“That clearing look good for a camp?” I asked.
“Sounds good to me.” D’Vorak agreed, and we headed off the road. We silently split up to take care of camp chores, and I was still amazed at how swiftly things could come together. Especially since we had access to magic. Latrines were no longer the shitty job of the camp. D’Vorak headed into the forest for some wood to replace the stock that D’Vaen was using to start our dinner, while Elendria was taking care of the eagzards.
We stayed mostly silent as we ate dinner, though D’Vorak broke it once everyone was nearly done. “If you two don’t mind, I’m going to teach Sean here a bit about hunting and wilderness survival. If you guys take watch tonight, we will do it tomorrow.”
“Deal,” D’Vaen immediately replied, “Elendria, your choice, first or second watch?”
“First is fine by me. Go get some rest. Although, I would appreciate it if you could start off with some of those tips where I can hear as well.”
“Not a problem,” D’Vorak nodded, “To start, know your directions. The majority of moss will be found on the north side of trees, but there is another way if you have time. Put a stick in the ground, and note the shadow. Twenty minutes or so later, mark the edge of the shadow again and connect the dots. The first dot is west, the second is east. At night, follow Drevor’s spear. It points to the North Star. Second, be able to find water. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but your life is measured in days without water.”
“Sounds good so far. Give me a second, I want to see if I can find water.” I said. I sat down cross legged in the middle of camp, and pondered what I could do. Water always collects at the lowest point, so I should keep my scan low to the ground. The only exception would be if I found a cliff. With my wings, I could easily fly up, but that is a bridge to cross when I get there. So, low to the ground, focusing on finding either a large concentration of water mana, or some swiftly flowing water mana. If I keep my mana scan low, maybe a foot high and three wide, I could drastically extend my sensory range. I started it parallel to the road, moving counter clockwise.
“There. Quarter mile or so away, there’s a decent sized creek. It’s a few feet across, low sloped bank.” I said, opening my eyes to see I had turned about sixty degrees from where I started.
“Not bad. You found it within a minute, but you had to completely shut down your other senses to do it. That’s a death wish if there is nobody to guard your back. Did you even search for nearby threats? Or were you simply trusting in your friends here?” D’Vorak lectured.
“I, ah.” I stammered, embarrassed at being called out.
“It’s ok to make mistakes when people are around to help. Just don’t get in the habit of it.” He said.
“I’ve checked the other directions,” Elendria interrupted, “Sean got lucky and found the closest source of moving water. There is a lake on the other side of the road at nearly the same distance, but the ground around it has a lot of moisture. Most likely a bog of some sort.”
D’Vorak did a slow turn around the camp, though I wasn’t aware of what he was using to find the water. “Excellent work. And you are likely correct about the bog part. We’ll chance the creek then. We have about a half hour before the sun truly sets, perfect time for an ambush. The change from day to night and back is the time a lot of animals search for water. We will use that to set a trap. Follow as silently as you can.” With that, he turned and headed off into the woods, and I tried and failed miserably at following along with his movements. At least until he let me catch up.
“Now that we are out of sight, I’ll let you take the lead.”
“Right, thanks.” I said, heading out slower than what he did. Moving through the forest wasn’t too hard, but doing so silently was the challenge. I could avoid most things, but there always seemed to be a branch my shirt would catch on, or a bush my leg would brush against. All the while I was trying to search for signs of animals passing along, and after about twenty minutes came across something.
“Game trail?” I whispered. “Not sure what animals.”
“Good catch. Twin prints with a second impression behind the toes. Definitely a boar. Only one set of tracks, most likely a single male. If we had multiple sets it would be a sounder with sows and piglets. Now, you got the obvious sign. Look to your left on that thorn bush. See it? About a foot and a half off the ground? There you go. Dark brown, almost black hair. See how it is frayed apart? It’s been there at least a day. The tracks are fairly deep, and we had a bit of rain yesterday but nothing today. Our friend came through yesterday, but not yet today. If we hurry, we can get there before him.”
I nodded, and started off down the game trail, stopping short after a few steps when I felt a hand clamp on my shoulder. “Come, I’ll lead and explain a few things about game trails. Obviously, it is a favored path for prey animals. What do you think the second thing is going to be?” I thought for a few moments, but kept coming up blank.
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D’Vorak sighed, and continued his explanation, “Predators know this. You are a lot more likely to see a predator setting up along the way to drop an ambush as well. I’ve noticed the entire time you haven’t looked above you. Just because we aren’t in a dungeon doesn’t mean danger won’t drop on the unsuspecting. Several varieties of larger cats prefer to drop from above and break their prey’s neck. You’ll never see it coming.”
“Shit.” I muttered after a bit. “I haven’t even been using my mana sense, as it is a bit overwhelming when I’m focusing on other senses.”
“You’ll have to practice then, but not right now. We’re almost there. Come.” He whispered, moving us off to one side. We crouched down next to a small group of trees, leaving us a clear line of sight to the creek. There was a good ten feet of clearance from the forest edge to the creek, and the churned up mud along the bank let us know where the boar would come in and drink.
“Do you think they would notice a passive mana scan?” I whispered.
“Yes. Animals are especially nervous when they are heading in for a drink, as they have some of their greatest vulnerability then. No spells, no skills that use mana.” He whispered back. I nodded, then looked around trying to see what I could figure out. The creek was fairly rocky, so the chances of fish big enough for us to eat was small. That said, the rocks seemed to make a natural ford where the boar liked to come to drink, giving it an extra escape route. I checked the lower branches of several larger trees, but couldn’t see anything within. I saw a swarm of mosquitoes hanging out just over the water to our right, and prayed that they left us alone. Then again, would I need to worry about them with increased constitution? Questions for another day, as a rustling preceded our target entering the clearing.
The boar was a bit different than what I expected. It had two sets of tusks, one pointing forward for rooting in the ground and a second set near the back of its mouth. This smaller set stuck out sideways and curved slightly forward, perfect for a slashing pass on a near miss. It was also about five feet all at the shoulder and easily several hundred pounds. It shuffled forward, snorting and casting about for scents. Just as it reached the creek and lowered its head to drink, D’Vaen attacked so smoothly I almost missed it. His bow came up as he was drawing, and he barely took a half second to aim before loosing the arrow.
There must have been a skill imbued, because the arrow buried itself to the fletching just behind the foreleg of the boar. The animal squealed and took three steps before faltering and falling onto its side. “Perfect. Skewered the heart. Easy way for a quick kill. If we were slightly behind and above, you should see if you can get a shot at the base of the skull.” He explained as we walked forward to check the body.
“Now, we can’t leave the body here, it’ll foul the water source. Use your mana and pull it over by the tree, that should be far enough away.” He ordered, walking away and letting me do the heavy lifting. Well, it would be heavy lifting if one of us didn’t have gravity magic. I maneuvered the body over, and he started instructions on my new job.
“Right, this will make a great beast. First, put the head slightly uphill. Perfect. Now, you get to practice your butchering skills. Take this knife, and barely cut deep enough to split the skin. Start at the throat and work your way down. Slow, and make sure that you don’t cut through the muscle and into the organs. Good. Keep going, and pull the skin to the side so that the hair doesn’t get into my bacon. Excellent. Stop when you get to the genitals, and switch to this.” He said, handing me a hook knife.
“This technique takes a bit of skill, but you shouldn’t have any issues. First, pull that muscle up a bit so that it is away from the organs. If you puncture an intestine, we just ruined the boar. Once you have a hole, stick two fingers in it and spread them. They will hold the meat away from the organs, and slide the knife in and use it to split the muscle. There you go, that’s it!” He encouraged. “Keep going, and stop when you get to the diaphragm. Now, head back and remove the genitals, and you are going to continue your cut and carve a circle around the anus. Reach inside and tie off the anus so that we don’t have anything leaking out, and gently use it to pull out the rest of the organs. Perfect! Slow and steady pressure. Ok, cut through the diaphragm now, and to ahead and slice the esophagus.”
“Whew!” I groaned when I finally cut out the last of the digestive tract, pulling the organs out and leaving them in a steaming pile. “Cleanse.” I muttered, removing the bloody bits that had accumulated.
“Not bad, not bad,” D’Vorak said, patting my shoulder, “You got the important bits. Go ahead and cut off the head and remove the tusks. We can leave that and the organs for the other predators, and hope they are happy. Now, if you were hurting for food, do you know what other organs you could eat?”
“Heart and liver for sure. Tongue and brains for last resorts. Anything else?” I asked.
“Those are the best ones for sure. There are some sweetbreads in the neck and stomach area that are edible, as well as the kidneys, stomach, and intestine lining. The last two require special care though, so don’t eat them if you have any choice in the matter. Store that thing in your ring, and we can get it processed tomorrow. Brian said there was a town along the way, and we can start hunting the pandacorns the day after that.”
I nodded and got to work, making sure that I cleaned myself once again before we set off, getting an approving nod from D’Vorak. The trek back was quicker, and I was a bit more judicious in using the mana sense to search the trees above us.
“Ho! The camp!” D’Vorak called out as soon as we could see the fire glinting through the trees.
“Come on in D’Vorak, we’ve been waiting for you!” Elendria called back. “How was the hunt?”
“Good, good. Got a large boar, Sean here got to try his hand at cleaning his kill for a change. We can have some fresh ham soon. Now, we aren’t quite done Sean. That kill was fairly close to camp, and there’s always a chance for predators to backtrack us. So I want a quarter arc of ward lines set up in that direction at 50 and 100 feet from the camp. If any predator comes close, I want us knowing about it.”
“You got it.” I said, heading back out to set up the added protection. It was yet another thing that seemed simple on the surface, but I wouldn’t have been thinking of it without having it pointed out to me. I made doubly sure to set up some warnings in the trees, knowing D’Vaen would ask about them when I got back.
“Good work.”
“AAAAH!” I jumped away from the whisper in my ear as soon as I entered the light of camp. “What the? Don’t DO that!”
“Sorry!” D’Vorak chuckled. “I just couldn’t resist. I was shadowing you the entire time, you still need to work on that. But I did see you setting wards in the branches of the major trees nearby, good call on that. Tomorrow and the next day we will work on perception.”
“Thanks.” I muttered.
“Relax. I’m doing it so that you can see where you messed up. You would rather me do it, than an assassin letting you know as they slipped a knife in your kidney, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry I’m grumpy, I shouldn’t be taking it out on you when I’m mad at myself for messing up.” I apologized.
“No worries, you really are doing well. I was fully expecting you to ruin some of that boar. There are a lot of little things you will need to start picking up on, things you just don’t think about in the city. Don’t get upset when you miss things, I’m throwing a lot at you at once.” With that, he patted my shoulder and headed off to his bedroll. I sighed in annoyance, then headed to my own bed for the night. Before drifting off to sleep, I went back through the entire day as I replayed what mistakes I made and things I missed. I was on my third play through when I finally drifted off to sleep.