Gonzo called a halt, and announced that this was the best spot nearby for campfires and meat prep. Lauren started organizing people to build fires (“but don’t light them yet!”) and cut grass around them and generally prepare the area for their planned butchering and roasting activities. Gonzo and Marc went off to scout, all according to the plan Lauren had laid out the day before.
Sadie happily cut and gathered grasses with Heather helping her. Danielle joined the other parties gathering firewood, and made excuses to chat about what everyone hoped would be in the catalog, planting the idea that there might be more emergency rations available. Cassy and Akari helped Melanie hunt up suitable rocks for the fire circles and haul them to where the pyramids of firewood were being erected, ready for tinder and sparks (or appropriate Skills) to set them ablaze.
Gonzo and Marc came back almost before everyone else was ready. “The herd’s pretty close today – you were right about them eating in the morning, Lauren,” Gonzo said.
“I’ve found at least four good targets,” Marc said. “We shouldn’t have any trouble getting as much meat as we can carry.”
“Oh! And let the record show that I’m interested in the leg bones, especially if I can get them uncooked!” Danielle added.
“Ew, what do you want bones for?” Angela asked, wrinkling her nose.
“You can carve them into tools,” Danielle said. “The ribs too, really, but I figure the legs will be easier to get off without making the whole thing impossible to handle on the spit. They’re annoying to clean, like hides, but I brought a bag for whatever bones people are willing to give me, so I can just haul them back to the Rooms and do it later.”
“Do you actually know how to do something with the hides?” asked one of the boys she didn’t – no wait, she did know him a little. It was Sean from school. She didn’t think she’d ever had any classes with him except art, one year.
“We know how, in theory, but we don’t have a ton of practice,” Sadie said. “It’s gross. We’ll probably try it again this afternoon while stuff is cooking, though. We’ll have everything we need.”
“What’s gross about it?” Lucy asked.
“You start by taking the brain out of – “
“EW! Not meat, not for me!” Angela interrupted.
“Can we get going before the herd moves?” Gonzo asked.
“Let’s move out!” Lauren said. “We can discuss how to divvy our animals after we get them!”
Gonzo took the main group to get them into position, while Marc took Danielle and Lauren to the other side of the herd’s chosen grazing area to point out the preferred prey and get them into position. Separated from the others, Danielle became aware of just how loud their movement always was – and just how quiet she, Marc, and Lauren were by comparison.
“Silent Steps?” Mark asked her, giving her an appraising look.
It took Danielle a moment to realize he was talking about the Trait. “Yeah, Dome Trait, taken for this very purpose,” she told him.
“Me too,” he said. “I’ll warn you when we really need to get quiet.”
“I got it from my Class,” Lauren said. “So definitely for this purpose!”
“Yeah, yeah, you have an awesome Class, officially a Hunter, yadda yadda, you can stop rubbing it in,” Marc complained. “I really hope I unlock it. Weapon Fighter’s a stupid Class.”
Danielle chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that around camp – not that you wouldn’t find some people who agree with you, but a lot of people got stuck with it. Good luck with your unlock, though,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said. They walked in near-silence for a few more minutes before he piped up again to say, “Almost there. I’ll show you a position, then show you an animal. Danielle, you have that silence Skill, so I’m going to position Lauren first then move you further and you can put the Skill up so I can tell you about one that needs a little more than pointing. You’ll shoot when ready, and Lauren will go when she hears your string twang – so drop the silence first!”
“OK. Fair warning, though, I’m not as good at actually shooting as I am at getting in position,” Danielle said.
“How was that supposed to work?” Lauren asked.
“I was supposed to practice and improve,” Danielle said dryly. “I’m working on it.”
“Ah. Well, aren’t we all?” Lauren said.
“Quiet now,” Marc said, and they fell silent and started moving a little more slowly and deliberately.
Marc led them to the edge of a meadow, and pointed out a certain doe to Lauren. The deer was fairly close to the edge of the herd, no other deer in between; easy to identify. Lauren nodded, and took her position.
Marc led Danielle further around the edge of the meadow. Her heart sped up at the realization that she was alone with a System-identified Predator, but Danielle told herself not to panic over Career prejudice. They were all predators here, and Marc was sharing valuable Skill information. Besides, someone was protecting her, right? Right.
Marc stopped and pointed to his ear, and Danielle activated Bubble of Silence. The weren’t nearly close enough to catch any deer in it – she supposed if they were, the nervous animals would have detected them already. “Skill’s up,” she told Marc.
“Thanks. So, look at that group of three over there by that one bush,” he said, pointing.
“OK, one with horns and two not?” Danielle asked.
“Antlers, but yeah. If you were going for a kill, I’d take you around further, but since we need them to run that way,” he gestured, “you need to shoot over the heads of those closer ones. Your target is the one with antlers. I’ll be over to the side in case they try to break that direction anyway. If all goes well, I’ll be taking a shot of my own on a third target, but only if they’re already following the herd the right way. Once they’re moving, you’ll need to run after, make some noise so they don’t stop early, and try to stay close enough to get your contribution mana,” Marc briefed her.
Danielle nodded. “Mana’s not my biggest concern, but I’ll keep them moving,” she said.
“Get it if you can,” Marc said. “My understanding is if you’re out of range, the burst mana meant for you kinda goes wild. You and me, we’re chosen by God or the System or whatever to be better at processing mana, right? According to Nathan, anyhow. We gotta take our medicine.”
“I hope lots of people get in on my kill, then,” Danielle said. “Rough on the animal, but it’ll still be over fast, right?”
“Yeah. Lauren and I will be making sure they go out quick if the arrows don’t do it,” Marc said. “It’s ethical, and it also just happens to be good Hunter behavior.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Nice when ethics and practicality line up,” Danielle said. “So I need to wait for you to get in position before I shoot, then?”
“Yeah. See that tree over there, with the flowering vine on it?” Marc pointed again.
“Yeah, I see it. Is that where you’re going?” Danielle asked.
“Exactly. I’ll wave when I’m ready,” Marc confirmed.
“OK, I’m set,” Danielle said. “Ready for the Skill to come down?”
Mark gave her a silent thumbs-up, and she dropped the Skill with a nod. He padded off, disappearing from view in the trees, but a few minutes later he appeared right where he’d said and gave her a casual wave. She lifted her hand in return, so he’d know she’d seen him, then took careful aim at the deer. She needed to hit the right one, so she activated Bow Apprentice and Combat Medic to make sure. Her bow’s enhancement also proved useful by adjusting itself to the deer nearest where she was aiming based on her angle and how much the bow was drawn back. She finally drew one last steady breath, and loosed.
Lauren loosed her own arrow less than a second later, and both deer reacted almost simultaneously. Danielle gave a sigh of relief; she’d hit the right animal, and the herd was stampeding in the right direction. She had a moment to hope that Gonzo had people set up in a good spot to shoot and not get trampled, then a group of deer started breaking left, and she remembered she was supposed to be chasing them.
She got moving. Marc broke from cover, yelling nonsense at the deer, and they turned back to the main herd. A moment later, he brought up his bow and let off a shot. It grazed a deer, one of the horned ones, but didn’t stick like Lauren and Danielle’s had. Danielle continued chasing the herd, while Marc’s noise turned less nonsensical and more frustrated – “come back and become meat, stupid rot-brained deer!” To her amazement, Danielle actually saw the arrow in a bush a moment later, miraculously intact; she bent down and grabbed it as she was going by.
A moment later, there came a cacophony of bowstrings twanging and arrows thudding and people shouting. The majority of the herd had passed the ambush point, but hunting parties waiting there had held their shots until the deer slowed by the arrows made it. Now the herd panicked anew, the trailing animals breaking in all directions. Danielle saw the one with the flesh wound from Marc bound past a startled Akari, crashing off into the woods in a new direction, different from the main herd. The deer with the marker arrows, meanwhile, had taken on a pincushion look – not all 20 arrows had found marks, but the two marked deer had each taken five or six more hits.
Good news for me and Lauren, Danielle thought, and a moment later her deer fell and the mana burst came. It was heftier than she’d expected; somehow, she’d imagined the deer being about as strong as the vine monsters in terms of the System, but evidently they had quite a bit more mana. Then the second died, moments after the first.
- ? Mana burst detected. 225 mana has been added to your class (Basic Sneak). Remaining cost to level, 103 mana.
- ? Mana burst detected. 40 mana has been added to your class (Basic Sneak). Remaining cost to level, 63 mana.
- ? Career Skill: Fire Starter (T1) added at level 1
Danielle stared at the messages in dismay. Her Class buffer was almost used up! Well, except that it could continue rising after the Class leveled, she reminded herself. It couldn’t level again until her base level did, but it could absorb mana until it hit its cap, as if trying to become level three before her base. Also, they were going to the Access Point tomorrow. She was going to be fine.
Ahead of her, people were cheering and high-fiving. Danielle looked around for Marc. He was smiling and hi-fiving people, but seemed a bit down. She walked over to join him.
“Good job,” he said. “Solid hit on the right animal.”
“What made that one right?” Danielle asked curiously.
“Oh – I targeted my Skill on ‘male deer past his prime’ actually,” Marc said. “Yours was one of three candidates the Skill pointed out, and the other one was scrawny. Uh, and the third one wasn’t in a good spot to shoot at before the herd started moving. I tried for him during the stampede, but, um.”
Danielle held up the arrow. “I think this is yours,” she said.
Marc turned red. “Oh, you saw.” He took it awkwardly
Danielle shrugged. “You were shooting at a moving target, and you didn’t actually miss. You just didn’t have as good of an angle.”
“I just hope nobody else noticed,” Marc said uncomfortably. “It’s embarrassing.”
“Well, I think you’re more worried about it than anyone else here will be, but I won’t tell if it means that much to you,” Danielle said. “I’m going to go get the after action report from my Party members, but I wanted to say, good job. On the whole thing, I mean. Don’t let your one issue at the end keep you from enjoying the group victory you helped make happen.”
“Right. Thanks! And hey, since I didn’t have a shot on the ones that died, I got a Skill from the big one,” Marc said. “Nothing wrong with that, right?”
“Care to share the Skill? If you want to,” Danielle offered.
Marc snorted. “It’s the usual System smack down – something to help my archery,” he said.
Danielle chuckled. “So, something that’ll be more fun to brag about later, when you’re using it, than it is now when you’re a little too close to the moment the System decided you needed it?”
“Pretty much!” Marc agreed. “Anyway, go get the news from your hunting party.”
“Right. Thanks again,” Danielle said, and jogged over to where her party and a couple of Angela’s roommates were watching Sadie gut the deer Danielle had arrow-flagged.
“Danielle! Is this yours?” Akari asked, holding up an arrow.
“Did it come out of this thing’s rump?” Danielle asked with a grin. “Same answer!”
Akari passed it over. “I wiped it off, but you’ll want to wash it back at the river,” she said.
“Definitely. So how’d you all do?” Danielle asked.
“This deer dropped mana for me, Tina, Sadie, um – Hanna?” Lucy began.
“Heather,” Sadie corrected.
“Right, sorry,” Lucy said, “Me, Tina, Sadie, Heather, and Angela somehow got the killing shot.”
“I got a hit on the other one, but it seems to have been a lot younger or something,” Cassy said. “The burst mana was only half of what Sadie and Heather got.”
“Figures,” Danielle said. “I wasn’t expecting to get hundreds of mana from an assist on these things, but it sounds like I went and got the big one.”
“Oh – are you OK?” Akari asked.
“Sure, I didn’t hit my cap or anything,” Danielle said. “I’m definitely still off the rotation for fish, though.”
Akari sighed. “I’m the low number in the party now,” she said. “I missed yours, and another one went right by me, but I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a target or not, and anyway it was too close at that point – I dunno, it was frustrating. I got Identify Plants from the mana bursts, though.”
“Oh, congratulations! I know you’ve been working on that one,” Danielle said.
“There’s some good stuff right around here to practice on, if you want,” Akari said. “That’s what I was doing while I waited.”
“Oh, nice – the System figured you didn’t need more bow Skills as much as you needed plant info,” Danielle said.
“My theory is that I’d just unlocked it, so it had that extra bit of urgency attached to it,” Akari said.
Marc and Reggie (the boy) joined them with a long stick – really, a tree branch. “We’re figuring to use this to carry it back to the fires,” Reggie said. “If you’re done with that, we’ll take over the carrying.”
“Yeah, I just gotta dig a hole for it,” Sadie said.
“I’ll help,” Akari volunteered. “We can dig it big enough for both sets, and spare the others the extra time.”
Most of the group glanced over at the other deer, where Lauren was telling a frustrated boy from the other mixed party, “Just let me do it! We’re going to have to get someone to use a purify Skill on the meat as it is!”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Sadie said.
They let Marc and Reggie tie the deer’s legs over their branch. Danielle and Cassy drifted back to where Heather was distracting Angela from the gutting process. “Akari managed to get this one from stuff she learned Inside,” Heather was saying, “Go ahead and try it!”
Danielle looked at what Heather was pointing at. “Is that a dandelion?” she asked, without thinking.
Angela looked up at her in annoyance. Heather rolled her eyes. “Danielle, I’m supposed to be training Angela,” she said. “Don’t tell her the answers!”
“I, uh, sorry,” Danielle said. “To be fair, I’m working on the Skill too, though, and I wasn’t entirely sure.”
“How can you even tell without any flowers on it?” Angela asked.
“The leaves have that sort of long with lots of points shape,” Danielle said. “I’ve seen them in salad.”
“Oh. Wait, so this is edible?” Angela said, perking up.
“Oh, yeah – well, if I’m right, anyway,” Danielle added. “Did you check, Heather?”
Heather shook her head. “Akari did, when she got the Skill and wanted to test it out. We’d been talking plants while we waited, but neither of us thought I should actually use mana to find out.”
Angela gleefully picked most of the leaves. “There, now I’ve contributed salad!” she declared.
Danielle started to ask, “Didn’t you contribute to the – “
“We’re not talking about that!” Angela interrupted. “I don’t need to think about that again until it’s nice, normal, not-furry-animal-shaped meat.”
Danielle bit her lip, thinking of and discarding half a dozen snarky comments. “I won’t push it,” she finally said. “It’s going to be rough out here until you find a way to handle stuff, though.”
Angela sighed. “I know, I know. I wish we had a way to go fishing. I think it’d be a lot easier to handle killing slimy fish than fuzzy animals.”
“Oh! We can help with that!” Danielle exclaimed. “Heather found a great design for a fish trap – would you be willing to teach it to her, Heather?”
“Uh, sure, I don’t know why not,” Heather said.
“We’ll go down to the water once the meat is all on the fires, and see if there’s a spot for the trap nearby,” Danielle said. “If not, Heather can show you on land I guess, but if so, you can actually try it out!”
“That sounds, um, good?” Angela said uncertainly.
Heather patted her shoulder. “It will be. I agree, fish are a lot less traumatic than fuzzy bunny rabbits.”
They went back to training for Identify Plant until both deer were on poles. Heather talked more about specific plants that she’d found worthy of memorizing their details; Danielle talked more about how she was learning to examine each plant for certain characteristics. “Leaf shape is one of the big ones the guides always mention, so I look for that first,” she pointed out. “Leaves are there a lot longer than flowers!”
hunting animals! Flawless victory!
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