1.3 - Running Wild
Today was Friday and Willow could finally leave the city. Walking to the gates Willow could hear people looking for party members and selling various things. Stepping outside of the gates for the first time Willow saw numerous fields eventually leading to the forest. Willow looking around could see people hunting squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and foxes. Deciding to go after rabbits first readied her bow and set out.
Crouching down Willow watched the rabbits and the patterns in their movements for a while. Creeping forward she spotted her prey. Nocking an arrow, she drew her bow while standing up. Adjusting for the rabbits movement she fired her bow. The arrow flew scoring a hit, the rabbit which was in mid jump tumbled forward and started running again. It was meet with a second arrow shortly after. Taking note Willow went to claim her kill, she had received some exp and a rabbit fur. Willow then continued to hunt rabbits for a while.
After sometime hunting rabbits, Willow decided to try to set up snares for squirrels. Willow pulled out the hatchet and the copper wire she had gotten earlier. Finding a dead log, Willow used her hatchet to trim off the branches. The log was about 10 foot long and 12 inches around. She leaned the log at an angle against a tree that had nuts, she had seen the squirrels going after. She then tied the copper wire around the log and formed slip knots at the end. She did this about 5 times. Taking the hatchet she made notches in the log on the top side of the wires. Placing bits of crushed apple in the notches, her snares were now set.
Moving away from her trap, Willow sat off in the distance where she could still see the trap. Willow sat back and started to sow the rabbit furs she had gotten earlier. Once she had sewn enough together she started to make a water skin. Around the time she was finished she got a message window.
Critical Hit
Your trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.
You have gained experience.
Looking up she saw a squirrel hanging from one of the snares. Not soon after another squirrel followed. Running up the log the squirrel headed straight for the crushed apple. Running through the loop, the instinctively jumping once it felt the snare, snapping its own neck.
Critical Hit
Your trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.
You have gained experience.
This continued to happen till all the snare where full. Willow, having finished making the water skin got up and went to collect the squirrels. Reseting the traps she collected the meat and went to go hunt rabbits some more. While hunting rabbits for awhile she had already reset the squirrel traps a few times.
Willow then moved her sights to foxes, the first kill didn’t go so well, they had a lot more hp than rabbits. Willow had to change her game plan. She would first set up a snare to lock the fox in place, then shoot from afar before the fox would get loose. After trial and error she changed her shooting style by holding arrows in her bow hand to allow her to shoot faster. The change lead her to be able to shoot almost three times as fast.
It was now approaching night time, Willow returned to outside the wall and made a fire. She had gotten quite a bit of meat and one level from the hunting she did today. Willow roasted some of the meat and made jerky with the rest. Looking at her arrows she wanted to make some more. Her bow had taken a good hit on durability as well. Willow decided to give Conner a visit in the morning. Willow then went out to the field and set traps for rabbits that she would check in the morning. After setting the traps Willow decided to logout for a few and grab some dinner.
After logging back in, it was already morning in game. Willow checked her traps, she had caught a few rabbits after collecting them, she left for the stables. Arriving at the stables Willow headed for the smithy.
“Hello Mr. Duncan,” Willow said as she greeted Duncan.
“Hey Willow, How have you been?”
Willow and Duncan chatted for awhile, talking about what she had been doing. Leading her to ask Duncan to teach her blacksmithing. Duncan started explaining the basics and showed her through examples. After about 30 minutes, Willow learned blacksmithing. Eager to test it out she sat off to the side and started to make some arrows. She was going to make some Flu-Flu arrows using the fur she had gotten from the foxes. Using the knife she cut very thin strips from the hide. Using some fine twine she had gotten when she was at the tailors guild she began to wrap the fur diagonally in a spiral where fletchings usually go. She repeated the process 3 times. While doing this Duncan watched her with a smile, nodding as he started to smith something.
After creating about 20 arrows, Willow stopped. Noticing she was done Duncan called to her, “Here use theses.” Duncan had been making some arrowheads while she was working away on the arrows. Receiving the arrowheads with a smile, Willow answered with a thank you. As she fastened the arrowheads Duncan spoke out, “I haven’t seen arrows like those before what are they?’ “They are Flu-Flu arrows. I’ll show you what they do when I’m finished,” Willow replied. Upon finishing the arrows, Willow stood up and grabbed her bow.
Looking for off in the distance she nocked an arrow. Letting loose the arrow, it was followed by a loud *Schhwaff* as if it was tearing through the air. The sound was considerably louder than a normal arrow and sounded like an over exaggerated movie sound effect.
Clapping Duncan said, “Now thats a cool arrow.” After retrieving the arrow, Willow pulled out some of the meat she had gathered from hunting. Making a small fire she began to roast the meat. The look and smell was considerable better than previous attempts. She was slowly getting better at cooking. Once she finished cooking she shared the meal with Duncan while they chatted more. After eating Willow asked Duncan to repair her bow. Once the repairs were done, Willow said her goodbyes and set off to the gates.
Setting some traps for rabbits, Willow then headed towards the woods. She was slowly mapping the area, noting the animal trails, man made paths, different animals territories. Willow also used this time to hunt deer and boar getting meat and hides. She continued to do this throughout the day. Taking breaks from time to time to get a better lay of the land. Once it was starting to approach evening she returned to outside the gates.
Making a fire she started to roast the deer meat she had gotten from the hunt today. She had mapped about 4 miles from the gates on the sides of the road. Pulling out the hides from the deer and boars she hunted today she started to sow. She made a tunic, pants, and an armguard for archery. The quality wasn’t great but it was better than the starter gear she was wearing. With a considerable amount of hides left she made a blanket. Wrapping the blanket around herself she sat there gazing at the stars.
*Hehe*”She look comfortable.”
“I have to get me one of those blankets it looks warm as hell.”
Willow was woken up by the words of passing by lower level player heading out to hunt. Collecting herself she packed up her gear and set off to check her traps. She had gotten a few rabbits during the night.
Staying near the edge of the forest Willow hunted foxes for a few hours collecting hides and meat. Around noon a commotion could be heard.
“Move your ass you piece of crap. You know how much gold I payed for you?” yelled a man on a wagon.
Willow looking towards the man, watched for moment as the man began to beat the horse with a barbed whip. The horse looked under nourished and tired, letting out pitiful neighs as it was hit with the whip. This went on for a few minutes, all the while rage started building up in Willow. A small crowd started to form around the merchant.
“Don’t you think that taking it too far?” and “Dude thats enough isn’t it” could be heard from the crowd.
Watching on Willow was at her limit. Then she seen the horse start to kneel, giving up. Knowing that if the horse laid down it wouldn’t get up. Willow snapped, with a shriek like a banshee an “Aaaaiiiieeee,” bellowed from WIllow’s mouth. As the crowd turned to see what was going on, Willow had grabbed a fistfull of arrows and began to fire. *Schhwaff* Was heard multiple times as the air was torn apart from the Flu-Flu arrows.
The merchant’s hand was pierced, followed by his wrist.
Critical Hit
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Critical Hit
More arrows continued to fly hitting the merchant one by one. Willow had fire all five arrows in her bow hand. Now grabbing three arrows at a time in between her fingers, the arrows protruding out like claws. Willow began to fire an arrow each step as she walked closer and closer to the merchant. Willow had fired her last arrows, the merchant turning grey and disappearing. The whole exchange had taken less than 30 seconds and Willow had fired over 20 arrows.
An Innocent person has been killed.
Notoriety has increase by 100
Level up.
Level up.
“Dude, did you see that she made a porcupine, a porcupine!!”
“What the hell was that, archers can shoot that fast? That wasn’t multi-shoot.”
“Serves him right for doing that.”
Various comments could be heard from the crowd. Before they could turn their full attention to Willow she started to run. Heading over to the horse, Willow unhooked it from the wagon and urged it to run. The horse turned and walked to where the merchant was picking up something. Willow reach out slapping its rear with a loud, “Yaaah.”
Title Acquired: Horse Thief
Regardless of the circumstance, stealing is still stealing.
Notoriety +50
“Hey You Stop,” could be heard in the distance as guards were running over. Willow ran to her pack grabbing it and dashed to the forest. The guards still following her, she used animal trails and other paths to navigate the forest. After about an hour she had finally lost the guards. Wearing the red mark of a murder now, Willow didn’t know what to do but run. Willow continued to move till almost night time. Looking for a place to camp, she found a small overhang on the side of a ravine.
Willow gathered firewood for the night and set up camp under the overhang. Resting while cooking some food Willow sat there while thinking about what to do. She couldn’t go back to town for a while. Until she could get rid of the murders mark, she would have to stay away from the city. For now she would camp out and hunt. Willow would slowly move away from town, while scouting the area.
A noise was heard off in the distance, Willow grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow. As the sound grew louder, Willow readied her bow. From the clearing she could see a horses head coming out. The horse from earlier today was heading her way. The horse was badly wounded, but seemed to had tracked her down. Coming closer Willow greeted the horse, softly stroking its mane. “Lets get you cleaned up,” Willow said as she pulled some bandages from her pack. She was able to stop the bleeding but the horse was still badly hurt. "Sorry this will have to do for now, till I can find something better.” The horse had dropped something at her feet. Looking down Willow picked up a small pouch. Opening the pouch willow found 50 gold coins. Thinking to herself, “Great now I’m a not just a horse thief but a bandit as well.” Willow pulled the blanket out of her pack and sat down. Wrapping herself she pulled the meat from the fire and began to eat. Willow the rested, falling asleep while she waited for morning.
Once morning arrived, Willow left the camp to scout the area. While setting traps here and there near animal trails, Willow found a small stream. Filling her canteen and water skin with water. She scouted around noticing she was on the edge of the wolves territory. While scouting around she also saw signs of another hunter in the area. Moving around while covering her tracks as much as possible, She hunted on her way back to camp. Willow had been able to hunt a deer and a couple foxes providing her with some meat, hides, and bone.
Once back at camp willow found a large log, rolling it closer to the camp. Willow hollowed out the log and poured the water from the water skin into it. Willow gestured for the horse to come drink. While the horse was drinking Willow pulled some fruit from her pack and feed the horse. After feeding the horse Willow set out again. She was looking for wood to make arrows. She had fired almost all the arrows she had by the gates and only had 4 left. Searching for a while she had found enough wood to make arrows. Returning to camp she was greeted by the horse, who was looking some what better than before. Changing the horses bandages, Willow began to work. Using the bone from the deer she crafted arrowheads and from the fur she made makeshift fletchings. Once done she had made about 15 arrows.
Willow started a fire and began to cook. She was slowly adapting to the area. It soon became night and Willow set in for the night. Late into the night she was awoken by the sound of wolves howling. Quickly grabbing her bow and readying an arrow. Scanning the perimeter there were at least 5 wolves. Running to the fire she grabbed more firewood, throwing it on the fire. Taking a few burning logs, she threw them out towards the woods. The outlines of the wolves could be seen, it wouldn’t be long before the attacked.
Readying her bow, Willow fired 2 arrows at one of the wolves that was creeping closer. Firing at the wolves as the came closer, she was able to slowly bring their numbers down. Having lost 3 of their pack the remaining wolves launched their attack. Charging from the darkness the wolves drew closer. Shooting her last 3 arrows, willow was able to take out one of the wolves. Quickly grabbing her hatchet, she swung at the remaining wolf. The hit wasn’t enough to kill it. Coming around for another pass the wolf lunged towards Willow knocking her down, while tearing into her flesh. Struggling to get the wolf off of her, Willow was using all her strength to fight back. Even though she struggled it wasn’t enough. When she was about to give up, a flash came before her eyes. *Whoosh* A kick thundered through the air as the horse joined the fight, knocking the wolf away. The wolf slowly standing up only to fall over shortly after, dying in its place. Crawling to her feet Willow was bleeding a lot. Patting the horse Willow said, “Thanks you saved me there.” Pulling the last of her bandages from her pack, Willow was barely able to stop the bleeding. Limping over to the wolves she pulled the arrows. Dragging the wolves corpses closer to the fire. It took all her strength to not pass out. After collecting the leathers and meat from the wolves, Willow sat down.
The chirping of birds could be heard, Willow had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Slowly opening her eye she noticed a figure by the fire. Willow quickly grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow.
“Whoa there,” said the man. He was an older man dressed in the skins of various animals, with hood covering his face. Removing his hood as he stoked the fire.
“Names Urd, Gaven sent to me check on ya,”
“Gaven?” Willow replied.
“Ya he heard what happened. He thought I might be able to help you, teach you a thing or two. I have been tracking you since yesterday. You’re still green but you got potential. Gaven said you was good with a bow and I’ll give you that. Now come get you something to eat.”
Willow, lowering her bow headed towards the fire. Wrapping herself with the blanket, as she grabbed some meat from the fire and began to eat. She was still very sore from last night. While Willow was eating, Urd was watching her closely.
“First things first, won’t you tell me what happened?” Urd said while watching Willow. Willow then explained about the day before; killing the merchant, running from the guards, and finally setting up camp.
“Can’t blame you much, my kind isn’t welcomed much either. I’m usually seen as a vagabond or a gypsy. But don’t think you did a bad thing. If you did, that horse would have just left you last night.” Rubbing his hands together Urd said, “So what do you say want to learn my craft?” *Bing*
Quest: Urd's Game
Play a game of hide and seek with Urd.
Difficulty: E
Quest Requirements: Track down Urd within a day. Failure will result in loss of the quest and being unable to get the quest again. Intimacy with Urd will be lost if failed.
“I’ll play your game,” willow replied.
Quest Accepted