Following the Trail [T|P]
Jul 9, 2015 20:47:24 GMT -7
Post by AMATERASU on Jul 9, 2015 20:47:24 GMT -7
Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---
[0|5]
5 dice per learning; +50% additional dice rounded down; 0 skill
A brief period outside the walls of the Mist Village. I had Ascalon in-hand, but that was the only thing I had been permitted to reclaim. Fine. I had to work to stay in the village, so I would hunt. A beast had been harassing the peasants farming on the village outskirts. Monster? It had been described as such. I was less sure. Most likely it was a wolf. But the tracks were unlike any wolf I had seen before. They were too massive. I followed to trail of paw-pad marks. Not too difficult, at first. They were outlined in blood.
Following the trail, the terrain changed. No longer was I in the rural roadside fields, but rather following along a sandy coastline. The beast was smart. Sand showed its tracks exceptionally well, but it stuck to the water's inside edge, so that the tide could wash away its prints as it moved. Given more time, the strategy probably would have been successful, but I wasn't too far behind. Less than a day, if it kept this stride. I could tell certain things about it from looking at its print in the wet sand that I couldn't back near the farmland. Or rather things I suspected, but couldn't confirm.
It moved quickly, but not rushed, or the prints in the sand would be scraped off at the back, and deeper in the front than the rear. And the prints were deep. That meant the creature was heavy. Very heavy. A two-hundred pound man didn't leave marks like this. It would have to weight five hundred pounds or more. Not something I want to get hit by. With that kind of mass though, it probably wouldn't be able to quickly change directions if it was charging. I would have to bait it into a rush, circle around and attack its vulnerable flanks. Assuming its flanks WERE vulnerable. You never knew with Infernals until you were face to face with them. I still hoped it was a mundane beast, if an uncommonly large one.
I followed the trail away from the shoreline now, up onto the rocks that acted as a tidebreak. Here I lost it, the stones shifting under the beast's girth made its prints unclear, and the water from earlier had washed away the blood. I searched around for some time. The creature was gaining a lead. So far nothing was coming up. I tried not to let it frustrate me too much. Just because I didn't experience the emotional aspects didn't mean that the mental component was unable to break my focus. A breathing exercise, deep and slow through the mouth, in rhythm with my steps kept me steady.
There. A white spot. I knelt to examine it. Wool. So the creature was hunting sheep. I'd not been told. From the urgency, I assumed it had killed a human. Should have known better. Regardless, whatever it was, it was going to die when I found it. I followed in the direction the wool was nearest. Hopefully I would spot some other sort of sign of its passing. Otherwise this could prove rather more time consuming than I had hoped setting out. By my estimate, if the target kept moving until sundown, it would have a full day's lead. Probably more than enough to circle back around and claim another ill-gotten meal.
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---
[0|5]
5 dice per learning; +50% additional dice rounded down; 0 skill
A brief period outside the walls of the Mist Village. I had Ascalon in-hand, but that was the only thing I had been permitted to reclaim. Fine. I had to work to stay in the village, so I would hunt. A beast had been harassing the peasants farming on the village outskirts. Monster? It had been described as such. I was less sure. Most likely it was a wolf. But the tracks were unlike any wolf I had seen before. They were too massive. I followed to trail of paw-pad marks. Not too difficult, at first. They were outlined in blood.
Following the trail, the terrain changed. No longer was I in the rural roadside fields, but rather following along a sandy coastline. The beast was smart. Sand showed its tracks exceptionally well, but it stuck to the water's inside edge, so that the tide could wash away its prints as it moved. Given more time, the strategy probably would have been successful, but I wasn't too far behind. Less than a day, if it kept this stride. I could tell certain things about it from looking at its print in the wet sand that I couldn't back near the farmland. Or rather things I suspected, but couldn't confirm.
It moved quickly, but not rushed, or the prints in the sand would be scraped off at the back, and deeper in the front than the rear. And the prints were deep. That meant the creature was heavy. Very heavy. A two-hundred pound man didn't leave marks like this. It would have to weight five hundred pounds or more. Not something I want to get hit by. With that kind of mass though, it probably wouldn't be able to quickly change directions if it was charging. I would have to bait it into a rush, circle around and attack its vulnerable flanks. Assuming its flanks WERE vulnerable. You never knew with Infernals until you were face to face with them. I still hoped it was a mundane beast, if an uncommonly large one.
I followed the trail away from the shoreline now, up onto the rocks that acted as a tidebreak. Here I lost it, the stones shifting under the beast's girth made its prints unclear, and the water from earlier had washed away the blood. I searched around for some time. The creature was gaining a lead. So far nothing was coming up. I tried not to let it frustrate me too much. Just because I didn't experience the emotional aspects didn't mean that the mental component was unable to break my focus. A breathing exercise, deep and slow through the mouth, in rhythm with my steps kept me steady.
There. A white spot. I knelt to examine it. Wool. So the creature was hunting sheep. I'd not been told. From the urgency, I assumed it had killed a human. Should have known better. Regardless, whatever it was, it was going to die when I found it. I followed in the direction the wool was nearest. Hopefully I would spot some other sort of sign of its passing. Otherwise this could prove rather more time consuming than I had hoped setting out. By my estimate, if the target kept moving until sundown, it would have a full day's lead. Probably more than enough to circle back around and claim another ill-gotten meal.
