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A Ranger's Matter(RogueWolf, Open)

Started by Elector Count of WAAAGH!, May 26, 2017, 08:02:33 AM

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Elector Count of WAAAGH!

The tree that the bolts began shaking violently, as if somthing was sliding down from the tree.

Moments later, the same dwarf came out of the foliage, crossbow on his shoulder as he laughed heartily.

"Not bad, beardling, not bad. Though I don't know if I should call ya that, with ya fangs and all." The dwarf chuckled as he nodded at said fangs. "Though you really are a wazzock! What were ya thinking getting under it! Ya couldn've been crushed to death!"

RogueWolf

Dan'l faintly heard Joseph talking through the haze in his mind.  He opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.  The massive dragon had been taken down and it seemed as if the werewolf had indeed come out to play.

"... I don't know if I should call ya that, with ya fangs and all."

Now that was something Dan'l wished could have been avoided but the cat was out of the bag so to speak.  He ran his hands down the length of his boy checking for injuries other than the bruising he knew he was going to have and found none.  With a groan he got to his feet and looked over at the other dwarf.

"What happened? I know what you saw but I can never remember after the werewolf comes out.  It looks like we did ok.  Hell better than ok."


Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"'ave a looky ova there." Josef said as he gestured over at the dead dragon corpse. "That was mostly ya doing...bit sloppy job you did, but ya got the job done, so I suppose that's worth something."

Josef then began to stroke his beard, being a bit thoughtful, before continuing. "Your no regular dawi, that's a fact. But what exactly happen ta ya? This can't exactly be the works of any normal dawi, well, least no sane dawi."


RogueWolf

Dan'l chuckled softly before addressing Joseph.  "I made a mistake of judgement a few years ago is all there is to it.  I saw a stranger with an unusual looking dagger.  Between the ruby in the handle and the runes inlaid in the blade I though I could make a decent amount of money if I took it off of the stranger's hands.  Thing is, I'm good, I'm really good with removing objects from somebody without them noticing until hours later." 

Dan'l grinned sheepishly, "The stranger was far quicker than I gave him credit for.  Not only with his eyes, but with his hands as well.  I reached for the blade and walked away with four distinct claw marks accross the top of my hand.  The stranger had the balls to laugh at me telling me he'd feed me my testicles if I tried to go after the blade again.  A week later I had my first change into what you saw earlier.  I can't control the change just yet but I've heard rumors that it can be done at will.  Fact is I'm kind of scared of what I become."

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"Eh, can't say it's all that nature for a dawi to be growing that much hair and claws, but least ya not dead." The dwarf said as he continued to stroke his scruffy beard. "But serves ya right ta be stealing like that, ya should feel lucky he just let ya go;could've easily ended ya life then an' there."

Josef then placed his hand against his hip, and said "Ya tried seeking help for this, hm, change?"

RogueWolf

"He could have killed me and some days I wish he had.  Other days, like this one, I think maybe it was a gift of some kind.  It's saved my life a handful of times so while I fear it I'm also not ready to be rid of it.  A strange predicament I know.  As for stealing it is the only life I know.  I've been doing it my entire life and I'm quite good at it.  I'm less good at spending time out here in the wild.  That'd be the reason I joined you.  I was hoping to learn from a master of the outdoors.  You see there is one aspect of the change I am able to control, and actually like."

Dan'l relaxed his body and began the change from dwarf to wolf.  In the wolf form he stared up at Joseph for a moment before reverting back to dwarf form.

"Not exactly a form I'm willing to take in cities.  It is very welcome in the wild though."

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"I see laddy." said the Dwarf as he raised an eyebrow. "Can't say I don't share some of that enthusiasm. But Tell me laddy, what do you know so far of the, hm, the "wild"?"

RogueWolf

Dan'l gave a rueful smile, "Not as much as I'd like to.  I can hunt and track in my wolf form.  Other than that I'm useless as a babe on the front lines of a battle.  If anyone can teach me any woodscraft it would be a ranger.  Who better to learn from than another dwarf?"

Dan'l grinned, "I did tell you earlier that I could 'pay my way' with stories.  I've a library's worth of stories stored in my mind.  Use them to entertain sometimes to earn a meal when there's hard times in an area I'm passing through.  I'd rather my belly was full after entertaining starving children rather than taking the last bit their family has as I disappear into the night.  Even a thief has morals."

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"Huh, woodscraft are for elgi." Josef snorted before beating his chest with his free hand. "We dwai are karag folk, mining is our speciality!"

The dwarf then set the butt of his crossbow on the floor, the hand now at the other end of the crossbow.

"But, I do know a bit on survival, if that'll mean anything to you. Fer starters, we got to relay on no one but ourselves out here; there are no usage of coins out here, out here you must hunt for your meal. I am assuming you know at least that much?"

RogueWolf

"Aye, mining is in our blood.  But it looks like the sun, the moon, and the stars are in your blood just as much as they are in my own.  I can't fathom swinging an axe in a mine for hours.  I don't imagine you ken either.  As for hunting the wolf does that either on his own or with a pack.  I've never been good with weapons other than knives."

Dan'l started looking around the forest floor for those.  He recalled pulling out a pair of throwing knives before the werewolf had taken over.  He must have dropped them somewhere.  A few seconds of frantic searching and the missing knives were found and placed back where they belonged.

"I might be able to get a rabbit or a squirrel with one of these blades but not much more than that."

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

""Hm, speak fer yaself." Josef grunted at the other dwarf. "Ya clearly neva set foot in the mines before. Ya don't use axes, ya wazzok! Ya use pickaxes...can't believe that I'd live ta hear...Mining is one of the pillars of dwarven community! Nothing boring about it!" The dwarf exclaimed the last part.

"Ya beardlings these days,and the longbeards called me a wazzok..." the dwarf mumbled as he shook his head.

"Anyways, knives aren't gunna do ya any good if ya can't catch ya prey. Ya be better off in ya wolf form." The dwarf continue, but he gave Dan'l a begrudged look. "Throwing knives are good for smaller game, if ya can sneak up on those quick little buggers, but if you want bigger game, ya need something bigger."

Holding his crossbow up with one hand, Josef grabbed one of the throwing axes from his belt. "This, is enough, if you can land it on something vital. Though it has the same problem as the knife: ya gunna need to sneak up on ya target, as range is only limited to how far ya can throw."

RogueWolf

"Sneaking up isn't going to be a problem.  Or at least it wouldn't be if game decided to feed inside a city."  Dan'l gave a weak laugh.  "I seem to be as clumsy in the woods as a drunk orc trying to walk a tightrope and as loud as an army of orcs feasting after a victory.  Perhaps with your help I'll be able to walk half as silently as you."

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"The day I, sneaking isn't hard when ya know what ta do." The dwarf grunted. "That, and like any craft, practice."

Josef then pointed the throwing axe in his hand at Dan'l. "Ya got da smell down. But before we can do anything of the sort, we need to find a target. Tell me ya at least know how to track;what with ya nose."

RogueWolf

Dan'l blushed for a moment.  It was true he could track by scent... kind of.  It was something that came naturally when in wolf form and he thought it was there in werewolf form as well.  In dwarf form it was only an effect that lingered from when he changed from one of the other forms.  It might be possible to trigger it while in dwarf form but he had as of yet figured out how to do so.

"At the moment yes.  The wolf has the ability to track by scent but the longer I'm in this form the less I am to be able to use it.  Also the stronger the scents nearby the more difficult it is to utilize." Dan'l pointed to the dragon's corpse mere feet away.  "That isn't making things any easier.  As it is I still don' hear any bird calls yet.  Shouldn't take too long though birds are resilient, right?"

He moved a dozen yards upwind of the dragon's corpse and sniffed the air slowly.  "Birds are coming back I can smell 'em.  Them and a few of the forest's scavengers are about.  There's a pig out there, damned wild pigs will eat anything.  It's not as docile as a deer but will a pig do?"

Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"I think ya mean boar." Josef grunted again. "Boats are more dangerous then they look. Ain't the regular pigs you know. Boars can runs faster then a bull, and can pierce ya with its tusks. Them are really aggressive, make them angry and they'll  charge ya. The bigger they come, the more aggressive they will be and the harder they ram ya."

The dwarf shifted his crossbow onto his back, before continuing. "But, I suppose it'll do. Which way does ya knows tell ya it is?"

RogueWolf

"The scent is on the wind and the wind is coming from the north I think.  This way at anyways." He waved a hand in the given direction.  "I can even tell you it's probaly about half a mile away feeding on some berries right now."  He sniffed the air once, "No, not berries.  Some sort of over ripe fruit though.  Not sure what kind of plant that is but the odor is intense."  He wriggled his nose trying to get the scent clear before turning to Joseph.

"I'll let you lead the way as I want to watch and learn."


Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"Doesn't matter as much fer barries, it's mostly looking at its texture." The dwarf said as he began walking at the indicated direction. "Alright lady, smell is important fer tracking but it ain't da only thing ya relay on. Keep ya eyes peeled for any visuals;hood prints, feeces, and such, anything that indicates that a boar has been through."

RogueWolf

Dan'l tried looking at the surrounding vegetaion and at the ground underfoot but all he saw was the path of destruction that the dragon had left behind.  He gave a small sigh of frustration but continued looking for something, anything that would point out where the boar had been and was traveling.  He saw small piles of scat that looked old and dry.  By the size he thought whatever had left them behind couldn't be more than squirrel or rabbit sized.  He turned his attention from the scat to study some of the foilage and hesitated....

"Joseph?"

He wasn't sure if what he had seen was making him uncomfortable or the wolf inside of himself hungry.  He did know what he saw was blood, fresh blood.  He reached out a finger to feel the viscosity and found it hadn't had time to dry in the least.  Unthinking he found himself sucking the bit of blood from his finger relishing the taste of it.  His untrained eye looked over the ground nearby and the other plants without noticing anything awry.


Elector Count of WAAAGH!

"If it's feeces, you've got no choice but to smell it." Josef said as he was examining something, his back turned to the wolf so he saw none of the blood. "And don't think to make me doing it, we are training you afte-"

Josef was intrupted when his nose picked up something. "Is that blood? Beardling?"

RogueWolf

"Aye, and fresh too." Dan'l tried doing what the ranger had suggested earlier looking for any signs of disturbance from footprints to broken twigs and saw nothing out of the ordinary.  Further looking at the branch with the blood on it though made him second guess ordinary.  The blood was splashed at about his shoulder level and he saw with a bit of surprise it was less a splash and more of a spray as the lone bit of blood he had seen was far from the last of it.

The blood had sprayed farther in to the plant soaking the stalk before running down into a small pool at the bottom.  Rather than the small amount of blood he had noticed before there was a large amount of it and no sign on what had caused it, or were it had come from.

"What do you make of it Joseph? With that much blood gone there should be a body lying somewhere, right? Or some track from whatever caused it."