A Lesson in Tracking
Log Info
- Title: A Lesson in Tracking
- Place: W02: The Wilderness
- Summary: Jacob takes Rune out to the wilderness for some lessons in tracking, and learns a bit more about her in the process. Later, they stumble upon Critias and share information about the recent were-wolf problems.
Daytime. Close to the afternoon if but an hour away. Jacob had a kind to go hunting: the Temple required some more food to feed the homeless and Jacob was feeling rather hungry at the moment. So...he had a mind to hunt.
But ever was he an inclusive sort. Hd had found Rune and invited her along to go hunting..teach her a few things about the wood and how to track, how to tell what berries are safe to eat, the works.
"Ideally, we'll want to find deer." Jacob's voice was somewhat low as he walked beside her, as if he didn't want to scare something. "How many arrows have you got?"
While Rune's financial situation was not so dire that she was dependent upon wild game, having access to it on the road is always a bonus. It's better than eating nothing but dried berries, nuts, and stale travel bread. The problem was, despite her skill in stealth, actually tracking or hunting prey was something no one had ever taught her.
"Uh, twelve, I think?" Rune pulls one of the arrows out of the quiver, squinting at it. "Though... the feathers on this one are a little messed up though. I... kind of hit a tree with it." Her lip quirks, showing a bit of embarrassment at that. The half-sil was better up close and personal in a fight than she was at range.
"Deer might be a bit out of my range, don't you think?" A lift of one eyebrow as she looks up towards him. "What about starting with something simpler. Like... squirrels, or rabbits, or very small pigs. You know, the type that are in a tiny pen and can't run away very well." Humor is a defense mechanism, and showing weakness is still something Rune struggles with.
GAME: Jacob rolls Survival: (12)+4: 16
"That should be plenty." Jacob encourages Rune with his tone and smile, though she pulled a rather...sad looking arrow from her quiver and he lifts a bare hand to run his fingers along the feather. "Hmmm...hang on."
He reaches into his bag and he pulls out a few feathers. "It's been a long time since I Fletcher, but I still remember the basics. Here, let me see what I can do there..." It takes but a moment as he re-feathers the arrow, makes sure the feathers themselves are stiff and don't yield to the wind too much by his soft touches.
"I think that will do nicely." But she does provide a good point: A deer might be a bit much right now. "Most likely. So we'll start you off small." He looks down and he looks at some tracks. "Hmm..." and he kneels down to run his fingers around it. "A good-sized hare. Here, come down a moment. By looking at the tracks.." He outlines the print with his finger. "You can tell many things. Direction it moved, size, sex..."
GAME: Rune rolls survival: (6)+2: 8
There is some sense of wonder in the way that Jacob knows his way around the task of re-fletching the arrow. "Usually I just buy more when they get too beaten up." Rune admits, a bit of color showing on her freckled cheeks. There are times where it is painfully obvious that she lived a more sheltered upbringing.
The arrow that Jacob returns to her stands out among the others, the feathers a different color than the plain ones that she had. Sliding it into the quiver, the half-elf does her best to act the part of a good student. That is, until Jacob starts talking about all the things one can determine by an animal's tracks.
"No way. You can't tell it's /sex/ by it's footprints..." There is a disbelieving tone in her voice. "I mean, I've heard people saying that you can tell the size of a guy's..." She clears her throat but doesn't say the word, "... by his feet size, but I always figured that was bullshit on the part of guys with big feet."
The craftsmanship was good enough to fire, easily! Jacob always did like it when Rune's cheeks ran a bit pink. It's obvious she lived a sheltered upbringing, but that has never inhibited the ability to learn and learn quickly.
A rumble in Jacob's throat reveals the humor in her words. "Oh certainly. The track itself can reveal the breed, such as the difference between a dog and a wolf. The width and angle of the toes of the paw can reveal if it's male or female. Some animals have certain distinctions on the paws or leave behind a clue like a feather or piece of hair - the coloring can even tell you age." Tracking was a science! Though he started to outright laugh when she implies that men's...sizes...can have something to do with the size of other anatomy, like big feet. "Well...it's not /always/ wrong." He looks at his feet. "Do I have large feet to you?"
Icebreaker...and mild flirting.
"But...the tracks are fresh. If we follow the tracks, we can hunt the creature. In this case, it's a good hare. You can tell by the spacing of the feet and the smaller prints it made with its hands just above it."
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As Jacob continues, explaining how those sort of observational insights actually work, Rune seems to focus in on that. Details she can do. The rogue has a remarkable ability to notice those small things that other people might tend to miss. Reaching a hand down, she traces one delicate finger around the outside of the track, as if she were trying to commit it to memory.
"Okay, well... that makes a lot more sense. Though I imagine it's different from animal to animal, right? Like, sometimes females are larger and sometimes males?" She is paying attention, it seems, and adapting her own knowledge to this new lesson.
Then Jacob has to go making that comment about his own feet and that rose color darkens even more on her cheeks as she distinctly looks away from him /and/ away from his feet. "I most certainly have not been spending any significant amount of time staring at your feet, Jacob Ben-Hassid." She seems to use his full name at times like these, as if it were to emphasize a point somehow.
Clearing her throat again, Rune motions at the tracks. "Focus." The word isn't harsh at all. "So this is one set of prints, where do we look for the next ones? I imagine a hare moves pretty fast so they're probably spread out, right?"
"Precisely." Jacob nods approvingly. She was a quick study and a wondrous mind. He gladly shows her the ropes. "There are many pieces of literature as well as experiences to tell the difference between the tracks. Committing them to memory will be helpful for you in the future, especially on long journeys where your rations may be low."
Though he saw how /dark red/ her cheeks got and a playful smile cross his features as he looks at her, even when she looks away from him. She speaks his full name as if scolding him, though the true point of emphasis may be lost in translation.All the same, he chuckles and playfully leans to bump her shoulder with his own.
Focus.
"Mhm..." Jacob's eyes are sharp and steady, letting his hands brush over the dirt and grass until he feels that slight indent. "This way....ready your bow." He tells her as he stays crouched and gets moving. His footsteps soft and steady as he tries to avoid fallen brambles or sticks that would make noise.
After a few moments, they find Not one, not two, but three hares, who seem blissfully unaware.
....And very cute.
GAME: Jacob rolls Survival: (15)+4: 19 GAME: Rune rolls stealth: (20)+10: 30 GAME: Rune rolls ranged: (7)+6: 13 GAME: Rune rolls 1d6 + 2d6: (4)+(9): 13
"Well, if there's anything I can do well, it's read about things." Rune murmurs. "But sometimes you just have to experience them to really learn." That seems to be the case for this particular lesson.
She shoots him a glance at the nudge to her shoulder, and then starts to follow behind him as he tracks. So well, it seems, that he may very well forget that she's there. Rune barely makes a sound, not even a shift of fabric, taking care in where she sets her feet. There is are reason that rogues can be quite deadly. In fact, it would be difficult for even a keen set of ears to know that she is there... right behind them.
Reaching for her bow, the movement is also eerily silent. There is an intensity in her eyes as she draws an arrow back, sighting the target.
The actual /shot/ is not the most skillful. There is a wobble in the arrrow that actually causes it not to hit the one that Rune was aiming at, but the one just behind it. It sinks into the neck of one of them, which gives a strangled cry before falling to the side.
The other hares are obviously alarmed by this and scatter, running into the surrounding foliage.
"Well... I wasn't /aiming/ for that one." Rune admits, her nose twitching once before accepting this as a lucky happenstance.
Soft and steady.
No flirting. No distractions. They're there to hunt. "Slow. Take your time." There was no such thing as taking too much time to line up the shot. No such thing as impatience on the hunt.
He's quiet. Watching.
She's silent as the grave. Even as she moved and drew back her arrow, she made no sound. When the arrow is loosed, she hits a rabbit in the neck and calls it's destruction complete. "A fine shot." Jacob comments as he stands up, turning his eyes to Rune when she comments she got lucky.
"Then the Gods guide you well. There is no such thing as luck."
"You and I will have to disagree on that one." Rune quips back, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face as she steps forward to collect her bounty. "Though, I will admit, what a lot of people claim to be luck is actually clever hands and a quick mind." Cheating. Rune is talking about cheating.
She plucks up the hare, pulling the arrow free and cleaning it with a bit of fabric before tucking it back into the quiver. After that, there is the more gruesome task of prepping it, which thankfully doesn't take long for such a small creature. Once done, the animal is added to a lined bag which is made to hold such catches until they can be properly cleaned.
"It... might sound strange, but I never really spent much time at the temples in my youth." Looking over at the cleric, Rune smirks, "Funny that I end up saved by followers of one goddess, and spending most of my time with two devotees." Slinging the bag over one shoulder, she adds, "Not that I haven't seen the influence of the Gods, just that my father was about as grounded as they came. If he couldn't touch it with his own hands, he didn't much care for it."
That said, she claps off her hands, "So... what's next?"
"I find we disagree on a few things. But if we agreed on everything, I feel as if our relationship would be boring." Jacob smiles at her, a playful look in his eyes. Though he lifts his shoulders in a shrug as she talks about cheating. Clever hands and a quick mind can send you a long, long way, sure, but there's no honor in it. He watches her pluck up the hare and recover the arrow.
Wisely done.
Waste nothing. Though the animal is added to a linen bag. They can skin and harvest the dead creature later, most certainly. Though he smiles softly at her.
"Truly?" Jacob seems almost surprised. She spends plenty of time with Harkashan, and she mentions the irony of spending time with two clerics quite often. "That is pretty funny." Though he ponders. "But for what it's worth? I do like spending time with you, Rune." He smiles warmly at her, before he hums. "Well, we can hunt more hares, two of them ran off...or we can find other prey."
GAME: Rune rolls survival: (7)+2: 9
"I don't really do those sort of things anymore." Rune explains, "The cheating, pick-pocketing, the underhanded things..." Though Jacob hadn't commented aloud, it's easy to suspect that more dutiful individuals might have opinions on such acts. "You met Tane. He headed up the crew I used to run with. Taught me most everything I know about being an absolute shit of a person."
Her lip quirks. Jacob had also witnessed that Rune and Tane had a combative relationship at this point. She had 'abandoned' the crew, afterall.
"Well, I kind of have to believe in the Sky-Singer, since it's her bidding that saved my life. But... it still feels strange. Hard to argue with the Gods presence when it's so obvious, right?" As he confirms his enjoyment of moments like this, Rune gives a more warm smile in return, "Me too. Even if it's failing to track animals or kicking your ass on horseback."
Then, he proposes trying to find the hares which had run off, but Rune just looks around, taking a few steps in the direction the animals had gone. "Uh... You might have to help there. I don't see any tracks whatsoever."
GAME: Jacob rolls Survival: (20)+4: 24
"I believe you. You're not who you were before. You're not like the cutthroats at the bar. You....have a heart. A conscience. Not to mention, you're much better looking." Jacob lets the ocmpliments rain down on her, a warmth covering his features. "Tane was....an interesting guy."
In short, Jacob wanted to punch him in the face.
Though he nods softly. "The Sky-singer believes in you. I see it in your every action, your every reaction." Jacob remarks softly. "Though I follow Serriel, it's something to notice. I would imagine you'd make a good cleric." He chuckles at her. "You get lucky /once/..."
Jacob smirks at Rune at her comment about kicking his ass on horseback.
Though he hums, looking at the ground. "There." He points at some large-looking tracks.
"I was a stupid kid who was angry at the world." Rune hadn't spoken much about how she got involved in all that. "My mom and I were so much alike, and when she died, my dad clamped down on all my freedoms and tried to keep me locked up like a porcelain doll." She walks the edge of the clearing a bit, still looking around for signs of their escaped prey.
"Tane brought me into the crew. Taught me to pickpocket, scam, lie, do whatever it took to get more coin for the crew. Who was going to go lock up a kid, right?" She explains, almost as if she wanted Jacob to know where that all started. "I didn't realize that I was being used. Not until we were running a heist with this kid who couldn't have been more than a year or two older than I was when I started. Things went south and Tane just fucking abandoned the kid."
Anger shows in the set of her brows. "It was cruel. So I stayed behind, hid the kid and got caught, myself." With a shake of her head, Rune sighs. "That was my last day running in the crew. Hopefully the last for the kid, too."
It might just explain why she was so protective of the 'boy' she had met inside the fairy tale book as well. Rune has a naturally protective nature, especially for kids.
Then, Rune laughs at the comment about her being a good cleric. "Oh no I wouldn't. I curse like a sailor, I drink too much, and I would certainly give Eluna a very, very bad name." Then, that same smile spreads further, "I thought you didn't believe in luck." Got him!
And there he goes trying to distract her by pointing at the larger tracks. Rune is on to you!
"I don't think there's any child who is inherently stupid...only misguided." Jacob remarks to Rune, smiling at her. "Rebellious, maybe, and hard-headed-" Jacob should stop talking before Rune tries to stab him with one of those knives. "Do you think your father was trying to protect you? Like...he lost your mother, and maybe he was trying to keep you safe in his grief and anger?"
It's not right, not by any means, but Jacob has always seen people for what they are, as opposed to what they are doing.
But he listens more into what Rune spoke of Tane. He taught her to pickpocket, lie, and scam to get coin and live the thieves life. "No one, within reason...and since you had run away from home, no parents for you to be brought back to...I can see why that would be an attractive mindset." He shakes his head. "They..." He sighs. "He abandoned the child?" He looks upset by the mere concept of abandoning a child to their fate. "That explains why you were so protective of the child when you were trapped in the book during the library incident..." He pondes softly for a moment. "But I'm glad you were able to protect the child...in both circumstances. You're a good person, Rune." He smiles softly at her.
"There are plenty of Clerics who arn't exactly the most pious, but that doesn't change that you have a heart for it, so long as you act according to the wishes of Eluna." He chuckles softly.
CAUGHT!
"...let's focus on the tracks." He smiles at her, walking low along the ground as he looks at the trails left by the hare...and some larger ones over it. "Seems a wolf may have travelled through here recently too..."
"Definitely rebellious and hard-headed." Rune replies, her lip quirking in that self-depreciating way. There's no sign that she's offended at all by his description of her. In fact, a lot of it still fits, it has just been honed over time. "But when it comes to my father... He and I are very different people." Rune touches her hand to her tattooed arm, as if the markings make her very well think of those differences. "But yes, I'm pretty sure that's his reason. And it's not like he wasn't right, either. I ended up arrested in my teens and dead in my twenties."
Those blue eyes look over at Jacob as she shakes her head, "That's the worst part of it, I guess. I lied to my father, too. I wasn't a runaway." There are aspects of her past that Rune clearly regrets. "He just never knew what I was up to. Not until the guards brought me in chains to his front door."
As for her time with the mercenaries and theives, Rune just nods, confirming his assumptions, but she doesn't say much else. Instead, she moves forward, as she always tends to do. "I still can't even bring myself to step into the Sky-Singer's temple. Besides breathing, I have no idea if I'm following her path or not."
Then, once he's caught, she raises an eyebrow, but lets him deflect back towards the task at hand. "We found signs of wolves up near the portal site, too." She crouches to get a better look, "Do you think they're natural wolves, or were-wolves?" There had been lots of trouble with were-wolves in the area as of late. Including those who had escaped the encounter with Cor'lana's rescue party.
Though Rune seemed to reply in a way that implies self-depreciation, Jacob shakes his head. "Nothing wrong with that. I think that's just part of who we are. I know I can be...naive, trusting, and temperamental." He offers. "And I...take extreme risks, often to the detriment of others. We are all still growing in our own ways. I'm sorry that your father couldn't see that."
He hums softly. "I think your father was still wrong...even if he had all the power magic could offer, he couldn't protect you from the entire world." He remarks to her. "And...he was wrong. You died in your twenties, yet you still breathe in your twenties. I'd say that life throws too many curveballs to rest on the failures and negative thoughts of others."
Jacob smiles at her big and warm. "Stick with me...you won't face that ever again, long as I have a say in it." The procelain doll nature that her father wished for her, the disregard and uncaring calculus of her former brotherhood.
"We did." Jacob remarks about the tracks. "These look more natural. Werewolves are more...frantic. Erratic in their steps. Wolves are a bit more deliberate. The trail goes for some time. It crossed through here before we found the hares."
The sounds of the woods change subtly. There's just a bit less noise from the animals. They're still around but somehow more muted. That in turn makes it easier to hear and to recognize a new noise. It's less common in such surroundings and probably explains the change in mood of the fauna. The faint crackle of fire.
Critias snaps a few twigs and branches into smaller pieces. He adds them to a small campfire, slowly building the flame while watching to ensure the circle of rocks he's placed around it is sufficient. He pauses at one longer piece of tree. It's got the shape and length perfect for a walking stick. Critias looks at it with a slight smile and then inclines his head as if thanking it. Then he breaks it into smaller pieces and adds these as well to the fire.
GAME: Rune rolls survival: (1)+2: 3 (EPIC FAIL)
There is a great deal more that Rune could say on the matter, but she seems to quiet a bit. It's almost as if the more personal conversation is put on hold in favor of the lesson she is being taught. Focus.
So, it seems that Rune has been the one given over to the task of tracking. A task she /very/ much is not good at. She does know that it's important to be quiet in the woods when following something. The problem is, she's going entirely the wrong direction, likely mistaking other signs in the dirt for tracks.
A mistake that brings them closer to Critias and his camp. It causes Rune to pause just a little ways out, one ear twitching. "Do you hear that?" She whispers, "It's gotten quieter." Then, she sniffs the air once, a gesture that looks almost Makari. "Do you smell fire?"
That's when she decides to continue forward, stepping right to the edge of where the fire's glow reaches the trees. With a sigh, she stands up to her full height, then looks behind her, "That is not a wolf." Then, back to the Critias, "Um... you haven't seen a wolf in this area, have you?"
"Do you...hear that?"
Jacob asks curiously, looking around for a moment until Rune decides to stand up from where she is and she decides to approach the strabnger's camp that they've come across. "Rune, wait!"
He whispers, before he clears his throat and gets up too, approaching from behind her and taking a position at her side.
"About yay high, most likely? Male?" He asks, resting his hand at about thigh-level.
Critias is crouching with his hands held out, to keep them closer to the low flame. As Rune appears in his tiny clearing he slowly stands straight and rubs his hands together the way one does when trying to spread the warmth. "A wolf? Have you misplaced one?" Critias smiles politely. "Why...yes, I have seen a wolf that size, although it was some time back." He pauses and then adds thoughtfully, "More recently, I may have smelled him. Or another like him." He twitches his nose to sniff at the air. "Not right at the moment though." Critias tilts his head to indicate the fire. "It may have circled around. Perhaps avoiding the fire?"
Rune gives a curious look as Jacob tries to stop her from rising, but the half-sil had already been in motion so it was a little too late to stop. Her brow raises in a distinctive, but silent expression of 'what?'. Clearly, she doesn't have any issue with greeting strange people camping in the forest.
Then, turning blue eyes back to Critias, she explains, "Not so much misplaced, but... we were tracking one." A sheepish expression follows as she reaches back to rub at the back of her neck, "I'm not very good at tracking or hunting game, so Jacob has been teaching me."
The confirmation that she was very much on the wrong track has a bit of color rising on her freckled cheeks and she catches her lip between her teeth briefly before gathering her thoughts again, "Sorry to interrupt." The fact the stranger seems to sniff at the air has her give a slight tilt of her head in response. "Just as a word of warning, there's werewolves in the woods near here these days. And possibly some escaped creatures from Am'shere. I'm sure you're more than capable of taking care of yourself, but... intel is always important."
'What'?
That look from Rune tells a story...but the look that Jacob gives back tells a deeper one. His brows furrow and his hands slightly lift. They don't know who this person is, what they're motives are...they might be a werewolf! Though nothing is confirmed, Jacob seemed to walk with her all the same in surrender.
"And she's been learning pretty quickly." Jacob tells Rune with a soft smile. Though he turns his eyes to Critias. "It likely did...I'll have to follow the tracks more closely." He remarks to him, before he looks at Rune.
"Aye."
Critias nods in agreement with Rune, still smiling, and then with Jacob as well. "No need for a pardon - there's no interruption." He lets the smile fade as he thinks. "And I thank you for the warning. You don't need to worry about me," he adds to Jacob. "I'm no werewolf. But in truth, they are part of the reason I've come." He turns his head to gaze towards the city. It's not visible through the trees although he looks more or less in the right direction. "The tales reached me of some of the goings on." He looks back at Rune and Jacob. "All true then?"
This is one of those moments where Rune doesn't quite understand the caution that Jacob carries for dealing with strangers like this. It's quite likely that with her tendency to travel a lot, she has met a lot of people on the road. If you reacted to everyone with suspicion, it would be a very long and lonely journey.
"It depends on what you've heard." Rune responds, leaning a little against the tree in a manner that is far too relaxed for a conversation in the woods. "We routed one of the main camps of the were-wolves not long ago, but a good number of them escaped and are still lose. There's more than a few people trying to hunt them down."
She glanecs to Jacob, then back again to Critias, likely leaning ever so slightly into Jacob's cautious nature when she asks, "What have you heard?"
"Well, that's good to know." Jacob remarks to Critias, seemingly truly happy that the Human is not a werewolf. Though he smiles softly at him, before he nods. "Good, good...we will accept all the help we can get with that." he smirks, before he frowns. "Depends. I wish it plenty of it weren't but...well, these things are never quite so simple." He turns his eyes towards Rune with a nod.
He nods at Rune, before he lets his arms fall into his side, and he listens to what Critias may or may not have heard.
"I hadn't heard of the them being routed," Critias admits. "I suppose word travels slowly sometimes. I heard only that there were many of them, more than anyone could remember being in one place. At least here, so close to a major city-state like this. And I heard all manner of rumor-mongering as to why, of course, and where they came from. 'The city is cursed' was a popular rumor, if unhelpful. And the least likely to be true. But others..." he thinks back, trying to remember.
"'A demon has summoned them'.
'No, it was vampires'.
'Unholy artifacts'...
"Those at least did have the ring of truth. Even if only because I heard similar words from Khazad, Sildanyari and Oruch travellers - all of them from, and going to, different lands." Critias shrugs. "And after hearing enough bits, and pieces - some credible, some less so...I felt it best to see for myself."
"There were quite a lot. Likely still are." Rune replies, letting her eyes flit over the stranger as she tries to get a read on him. It's something she isn't quite as good at as others, likely from her own dubeous background. Still, she seems to decide he is one of the 'good ones'. "One of their leaders had the fool idea to kidnap Telamon. I think he very much underestimated the amount of pull that Tel's lovely wife has and how many people she can pull to her aid." She explains this much, since some of this story is likely already well known in Alexandros.
Tapping her finger over one tattooed arm, Rune continues, "Telamon, Dolan, Verna... they probably could tell you more in detail, but my understanding is some sort of demon-devil creature is responsible for it." It sounds as if much of the details on the matter are a bit beyond Rune at the moment.
'A demon has summoned them'?
Vampires?
"Well, the Artifacts was right." He chuckles a little bit. "But yes, some of those are true. The vampires is somewhat funny though. If I recall correctly, I don't think werewolves and vampires like each other very much....at least according to some stories." Jacob remarks, before he looks towards Rune. "A foolish mistake unlikley to be repeated."
He ponders for a moment. "But they'll try something new....and yes, some devil or another is responsible for it...we're hunting them, but...there's always more."
He shakes his head.
"But." He sets his hands on his knees and he turns to look at Rune. "I think we'd best return with our catch. I get to tell you how to clean and eat the hare, now."
A moment's hesitation follows as Rune gives a nod of her head, accepting Jacob's suggestion. "Safe travels." She offers to the stranger before allowing herself to be lead away into the forest. Even now, she isn't very good at navigating, so she leaves it to Jacob to determine their way safely back to their horses.
"I think I'm going to need a lo tmore practice." The rogue admits.