Boar hunt

Highlands - Dunland <>

Mean, moody, and magnificent. Such words might describe the forested highlands of Caerdh, the foothills of the Misty Mountains. This is a land of wild, silent places, of huge skies and magnificent landscapes, of challenge and adventure. The mountains and harsh climate can make this an inhospitable place, yet there are many who call these hills and valleys their home.

Here the looming forest dominates. A mass of living green that rises to mantle the steep mountain slopes to the east, rolls and dips to fill steep-sided valleys to the north and south, and flattens to the west, in the direction of distant Kierkgard. The trail meaders southeast, towards a large hill topped by a stone fortress.

Save for the well-worn, rutted track that cuts the forest from north to south, there are few visible paths or roads in this area. A few game trails spin off into the trees, but they seem seldom used.

Obvious exits:

East leads to Waterfall <>.

North leads to Valley - Dunland <>.

Southeast leads to Southern Misty Mountains - Dunland <>.

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Dunland Time and Weather Forecast

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Real Time is:       Thu Jan 22 14:45:04 2009

IC weather is:      Wind:  - Clouds: moderate

IC Moon is:         First quarter

IC time is:         Dawn

IC date is:         Trewsday, Day 3 of January in the year 3046.

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[Finnian(#23897)] It\'s just after breahfast and the \'small\' hunting expedition is on it\'s way. The day is brilliant, with a fresh layer of snow that sparkles when the sun\'s rays light down from between the spotty clouds above. The air is crisp and the forest is just beginning to wake up as small game skitters over the white blanket.

The group of hunters is perhaps eight or nine strong, with a handful of the Ceann\'s retainers, a couple of trusted Kavanagh to watch over the young heir, and Breveg, of course. Aeden is warmly bundled by someone who took ten minutes to make sure the child wouldn\'t freeze to death during the day, laden with gloves, hat, boots, a double layer of breeches and a warm cloak.

The aftermath of the smothering has done little to curb his enthusiasm as he follows along with a wide grin, carrying his spear. He\'s been chattering almost non-stop, going on extensively about the many animals he would be content to kill today.. each one more fierce than the last.

Breveg moves up beside Aeden, surveying the boy in silence for a few moments, his lips twitching. \"If you hope to find /any/ game, you will need to make less noise,\" he informs the youngster, no doubt eager for a little peace. \"Now. Instead of speculating, why don\'t you try actually looking. What tracks can you see, here?\" His hand rests casually on a hunting spear, the butt of which provides a handy support for stepping through uneven snow the spare is strapped to his back.

[Carac(#32384)] The handful of retainers with the Ceann, are in fact young Laoighire guardsmen of an age with the Ceann. Currently fanned out along the edges of the trail in search of tracks.

Gregoir himself steps up to where Brev has paused with Aeden. \"If we do come across a grizzly, young Kavanagh, I will be sure that you allowed the first strike to prove your bravery,\" he says with a grin and then looks upon the tracks as well.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden grows quieter at Breveg\'s prompting, pausing his movement to carefully look around for tracks in the snow. Gregoir\'s offers elicits a grin from the child and then he breaks away from the path he\'s been following that the men have been creating. He slowly plods through the snow to stand over some prints in the snow, his brows drawing together as he thinks. \"These are from.. a .. bird.\"

The pair of Kavanagh men are younger as well, one carrying a long bow and arrows that moves with the experience of ranging, while the other is heavier-set with a pack of supplies on his back, an axe at his side, and a long spear.

Breveg throws a look of appeal in Gregoir\'s direction. \"Ceann, I\'d much prefer Kavanagh didn\'t have reason to remove my head from my shoulders,\" he comments drily.

At Aeden\'s deduction he follows the boy until he too stands looking down at the marks in the snow. \"Good. One of the big grouse, blackcock probably. They\'re timid, not likely we\'ll see more of them than the tracks.\" And he shrugs. \"So. Where do you think other game might be? Look - and listen.\"

He falls silent so that the sounds of the forest can be heard - the twittering of small birds, the soft thump of snow as it slides off the branches, the rustling of brush ...

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir also glances about as Brev puts his question to Aeden. His eyes eventually coming to settle upon a windblown pile of brush and undergrowth. \"I would not worry about, Kavanagh,\" Gregoir says with a grin as he turns to Brev.

\"For surely of the beast proves too much for the formidable young Kavanagh, then we will all be slain by the fearsome creature.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden\'s grin widens when Brev confirms his guess, quite pleased that he figured it out on his own. The child grows silent once more, trying to concentrate on listening and looking, as suggested. After a few moments he begins to wander again, studiously searching the snow for other tracks, wading through thicker patches of snow the reach his knees where there are dips in the landscape. The Kavanagh archer moves on ahead with his eyes up to the trees now, while the other stands nearby in quiet vigilance.

\"Ah. Yes.\" Breveg inclines his head in Gregoir\'s direction, and chooses not to comment further on that topic. He eyes Aeden doubtfully as the lad starts to wander off, and moves up to the spear-carrying Kavanagh man. \"Keep an eye on him, will you?\" he murmurs quietly. \"Just in case he does find anything larger than a blackbird ...\"

Looking back to Gregoir, he offers, shrugging, \"At least the lad is trying. Though somehow I doubt we\'ll sight game for a long time.\" He smirks. \"Which brings to mind,\" he hesitates, then continues, \"Ceann, there was a matter I wished to raise with you.\"

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir watches Aeden and the other for a moment. \"It is good just to be out,\" he says turning towards Breveg. \"Whether we find any game or not.\" He adjusts his grip on his spear and then motions it towards the brushpile.

\"Go see if there\'s anything hiding in there,\" he says to his retainers.

He watches them go and then turns to Brev. \"What matter might that be?\" he asks.

[Finnian(#23897)] As Aeden moves further away from the adults, his watchful shadow follows after him. The man moves quietly enough for one of his girth. The child glances up as the guard looms behind him, then points out some new tracks he\'s found and confers softly with the retainer. Apparantly unsatisfied with this new discovery, he goes back to his searching.

Breveg sighs. \"A matter of duty - and honour,\" he says at last. \"My father held the lands south of Mathain. Now he is gone, as is my brother.\" For a moment the muscle jumps in his cheek, and he looks away, ostensibly watching Aeden. He swallows, but when he continues his voice is clear as before, though quiet. \"I am the last of his line. I cannot claim title by right of birth alone, nor would I ...\" He shrugs. \"But responsibility is not so easily shirked, is it? Spring is coming, and with it the goblins. Ceann, let me be one of those who holds the northern border,\" he urges, his tone earnest. \"Let me prove my worth.\" He looks back then, his expression solemn.

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir stops and places the butt of his spear on the ground. \"Barseg\'s lands,\" he says with a nod. \"Well let me say that I agree with you that we must see to strengthening our northern border,\" he says then. \"I admire your courage for volunteering for such a task, but how do you intend to do it?\"

He glances around. \"What men have you? Do you intend to hold our border with the men of Ranich? I am sorry, Brev, but the north must go to someone who has the strength to hold it.\"

One eyebrow flickers briefly, but little other reaction does Breveg give. \"Ceann, you misunderstand me. I offered to serve, not to lead in Kavanagh\'s place.\" He pauses, glancing swiftly over to Aeden and then back. \"Do you intend to send no men to the north, then?\" Briefly something flickers in his gaze - anger, doubt, it it hard to say. \"Ranich can ill afford to spare the men at planting, but aye, they will defend their own. No others stand as a buffer between them and the goblins now.\" His lips twist in a brief, mirthless smile.

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir smiles slightly. \"Ah . . .\" he says. \"Well if you wish to volunteer to go north with the army, that is another matter,\" he frowns for a moment considering, but then shrugs and continues.

\"However, I believe you are wrong about there being no buffer,\" he says. \"Are not these rebels, these self named \'Hawk\' rumored to be in the north, near Mathain?\" he asks. \"It may be that there is a way they can be used as a buffer. If we were to, sacrifice a portion of land, it would open up the north for settlement.\" He shrugs then. \"Of course few others would see it that way.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] The young Kavanagh heir seems to have found another trail to follow, the word deer drifting across the serene area. With renewed enthusiasm the child is carefully moving along, following the tracks in a winding fashion that takes him around many a tree as he duplicates the path the animal took.

\"Thank you, Ceann.\" Breveg\'s smile deepens to a more genuine one, then is gone. The solemnity of earlier returns, and he frowns, his countenance thoughtful. \"Ranich does not wish an enemy on its border,\" he replies at last. \"That would do little to halt goblin raids, and might even ... exacerbate them. An ally on its border would, of course, be another matter.\" He hesitates, as though choosing his words, then continues, \"I am sure that Ranich\'s Fian would support the Ceann in any decision that would achieve peace and stability.\" He carefully avoids voicing any opinion of his own. \"Is-\"

Whatever else he might have said is broken off, and instead he remarks with an air of faint surprise, \"It would seem that the young Kavanagh has found something.\"

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir begins moving towards the young Kavanagh, but continues the conversation as he goes. \"I would not offer these men all of the north,\" he says. \"Only those lands which the Hawk held in the past, which would leave your father\'s lands still untended. The problem lies in the anger of the past, many lost kin in the Hawk\'s last rebellion and wish this one crushed violently in rememberance of the lost. They here this new one is led by the son of I\'racil, and the anger is only further flamed. If he were not part of this, then, maybe....\" he lets his words drift off and looks towards Aeden.

[Finnian(#23897)] When he sees the other two approaching, Aeden points out his find. \"We think they\'re deer tracks. Maybe it\'s a stag!\" He tries to keep his voice quiet, but is far too excited to achieve a soft volume. \"Do we follow the tracks?\" He asks, not entirely certain on how to proceed at this point.

\"I see.\" Does Breveg\'s bland answer to the first part of Gregoir\'s speech hold an echo of doubt? \"And aye, there is much bitterness. I was in Mathain myself, as a boy. I worked with men who had lost fathers, brothers, sons. It is a bitter legacy the Hawk have left.\" He allows a momentary anger to colour his voice. \"Yet, if you kill this I\'racil\'s son, they will likely not treat. Crush them, and in a few years the problem will just rise again ...\"

The words break off as the volume of Aeden\'s speech rises, and he shakes his head, putting a finger to his lips as they approach the lad. \"We - that is, you - stop making enough noise to fright them in Laeg.\" He relents then, peering at the tracks himself. \"Most of the stags should be herding their does by now, a loner is probably old and weak - or young.\"

[Carac(#32384)] A loud squealing sound suddenly comes from behind them, followed almost immediately by the cry of the Laoighire guards. \"Behind you, Ceann!!\"

Sure enough angry over being disturbed from it\'s place in the brush pile a boar charges through the snow, its cloven hooves carrying it at surprising speed. Gregoir turns, but with no time to get his spear around for a decent stab, dives out of the beasts path.

[Finnian(#23897)] Old and weak may be the best chance the boy has. He grows quiet again at Brev\'s hushing and chews on his bottom lip, looking between the men and the trail. His eagerness to claim -any- kill is weighing against his desire to find something worth boasting about.

At the burst of commotion behind them, Aeden whips around and his brown eyes widen at the sight of the boar. Fearlessness, (or recklessness?) has the child bringing his own shortened spear to bear even as his guard makes a frantic, though delayed, grab for the boy that\'s entirely too slow. Perhaps he hadn\'t expected Aeden to rush right into the path of danger.

Stooped as he is from inspecting the deer tracks, Breveg has little time to do more than turn and brace the spear he\'s holding. As Aeden rushes forward he utters a single guttural word, then into action. The spear is hurled swiftly toward the approaching creature - halting it at best, a distraction at the least - even as the man darts in a sideways arc with the aim of avoiding those slashing tusks. Already his hand is reaching over his shoulder for the second spear.

[Carac(#32384)] The spear tears across shoulder of the boar and the creature squeals in pain and fury. Its cloven hooves churn up snow and mud as it alters its course towards this new threat.

Gregoir who\'s had a moment to recover from his dive now spots the beast and launches himself towards the boar in an attempt to knock it off course at least, tackle it at best.

[Finnian(#23897)] Breveg draws the boar\'s attention and Aeden is spared from being completely trampled by the creature. As it turns, the snow is sprayed at the boy, and he makes one determined stab at the beast before he\'s suddenly drug backwards by the collar as his guard finally reaches him.

Breveg has the second spear out by now he shows no inclination to part with this one. He\'s still moving, though at human-speed and not boar-speed the spear is held low, at a height level with the boar\'s tusks, as his feet take him toward the nearest tree. Should the beast be sufficiently slowed, he might even reach it.

[Carac(#32384)] The thrust of Aeden\'s spear slashes into the flank of the beast and squeals with pain. Though as it prepares to turn towards this threat, Gregoir hits the boar with audible grunt as the air rushes from the Ceann\'s lungs. Still he has presence of mind to wrap his arms about the creature, and their combined momentum carrys them over to tumble through the mud and snow.

Upon his knees the Ceann is face to face with the boar and only has time to drop to his chest to avoid the violent upward slash of tusks. He is not fortunate enough to miss the cloven hooves in the small of his back as the creature tramples over him as rushes back onwards towards the tree.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden\'s spear thrust cuts through the flesh of it\'s mark and then pulled free as he\'s hauled out of danger\'s immediate path. He\'s too far out of the way to get another chance to stab the boar, now. The child isn\'t without recourse though, and when the retainer turns back to assess the situation and possibly move in to aid the Ceann, the youngest Kavanagh on the hunting trip makes his move. He draws back his arm and with all the concentration he can muster in the exciting (and a bit terrifying) situation, he launches the spear at the boar.

Gregoir\'s distraction buys Breveg the time to reach a gnarled larch, its trunk affording at least some protection in lieu of a shield. His spear is still in his hand as the boar nears he waits until the last possible moment before twisting round the trunk to stab at its flank.

It is at this moment that a short-hafted spear whistles past, its trajectory low, about the level of a man\'s thigh. The blow is no less shocking for the fact that it is glancing and slices rather than impales: the spear is sharp enough to part leather and score a line of red beneath. Breveg gives a bitten-off cry and his balance wavers.

[Carac(#32384)] The boar continues its charge towards the tree, yet as it approaches Aeden\'s spear drives deep into it\'s flank and the animals stumbles forward. Here to be met with the slicing of Brev\'s spear in the opposite side. In blind fury or perhaps desperation, the animals slashes violently at the trunk of the tree, gouging the bark and shaking the lower limbs.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden gasps when Breveg is scored by his throw and his jaw drops open in horror. The accident takes some of his enthusiasm away, and the child no longer has any weapons now. The guard standing in front of him twists around sharply, and with a growling command sweeps the boy up and shoves him in into the safety of the spreading branches of a tree. \"Stay put.\" The Kavanagh retainer lumbers in then with his own spear to make a jab at the boar.

Breveg, tight-lipped now, yanks his spear back, stumbles ... and blindly thrusts the spear forward anew, staggering as the ground shakes and blinking away the bark and twigs that shower down around him.

[Carac(#32384)] Having found one of the spear hurled earlier towards boar, Gregoir stumbles forward with the weapon held before him. As the boar spots him he turns from the tree to charge the Ceann, yet again, this time the Ceann does not dive from it\'s path. Instead he remains with spear held low and at the ready. At the last possible moment, as that massive head lifts violently upwards, he sidesteps and stabs his with all his strength into the momentarily exposed throat of the beast.

The beast continues to thrash even as it falls to the ground, its blood turning the snow a violent red.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden is standing up in the tree, his arms wrapped around a branch to keep his balance. The boy watches in awe as Breveg and the Ceann both fight the animal. He can\'t see exactly what\'s happening with all the fast movement and snow flying, but when the beast falls to the ground, bleeding out, the boy cheers in shrill excitement. \"You killed it!\" He starts to climb down from the tree, but thinks better of it and stops, resuming his vantage.

Breveg\'s spear finds its mark not in porcine flesh but simply in trampled snow and the dirt beneath. The man leans on it a moment, then pulls it free and moves towards Gregoir, the spear still held loosely in case aid is needed. He is limping, but he says nothing of that. For the Ceann, a nod - for Aeden, not a word or a glance as yet.

[Carac(#32384)] \"Oh aye,\" Gregoir replies breathlessly. \"We killed it.\"

His attention then turns towards Brev. \"Are you hurt, man?\" he asks. He places a hand to his lower back where the beast stepped and groans slightly himself as he sits upon the ground.

\"I think I for one will be pissin\' blood for the next week,\" he says with a pained grimace.

[Finnian(#23897)] Aeden grows quiet again when he catches on that his mistake isn\'t going to be taken lightly. He squats down in the tree, chewing on his lip and looking remorseful. The Kavanagh retainer will offer a hand up for the Ceann as he grins at both of the men. \"And feasting on boar tonight! Excellent kill!\" Breveg is given a nod, \"Damned fast move with your spear, saved the lad from an early grave. I shall let my Fian know.\"

Breveg simply shrugs in answer to Gregoir\'s query. \"The creature\'s tusks were sharp,\" he replies after a pause, then, \"I\'m barely scored.\" A little awkwardly he shifts the spear to his left hand, and stretches out the other as though to help the Ceann, only to withdraw it when the Kavanagh retainer offers. He manages to give the man a brief smile and a murmured, \"Thank you,\" but that is all - he seems rather subdued for some reason.

[Carac(#32384)] Gregoir nods in agreement with the words from the Kavanagh man, though he waves away the offered hand to help him to his feet. \"He\'s right,\" he says remaining seated upon the ground. \"If it hadn\'t been for you things would of gone badly for the lad.\"

He leans back now against the scarred trunk of the tree. \"Take the tusks for a reward for your actions,\" he says. He gives a soft chuckle then and puts the back of his head against the tree as well.

\"Don\'t scare up any more game for a bit, lad,\" he calls out for Aeden. \"I\'m not wanting to move for a few hours at least.\"

[Finnian(#23897)] The Kavanagh man turns to look back towards the child that\'s still up in the tree. \"I shall let my Fian know of several things.\" He adds in a harsh tone that more than carries across the snow. Aeden\'s face grows more worried and the joking words from the Ceann are scarcely acknowledged. The retainer seems satisfied with letting the boy stress over that news for a while, and shrugs his pack off. \"I have some bandages.. \" He grunts, and begins digging for the supplies to help Breveg patch up the injury until it can be properly treated back at the keep.

Breveg frowns at the Ceann\'s words, and casts him a doubtful glance, but he seems willing to let the man put a good face on it he opens his mouth as though to speak, then thinks better of it.

The words of Kavanagh\'s retainer distract him from any further queries about the state of Gregoir\'s health. \"It\'s only a scratch,\" he says a little sharply, then concedes, \"I suppose a bandage never hurts, anyway. I have some things of my own, though.\" And with that he limps off for a little privacy.