Re: The Nascent Ranger - A Skyrim AAR
Chapter 9
The two woke up and had a hearty breakfast. Halas put on his backpack and all his other gear. It was a fair amount of weight. He grunted as he put the bag on and wondered how he was going to get used to it. Food, camping kit, various pouches with all sorts of alchemy ingredients, and dry firewood all amounted to nearly 50 pounds of gear.
They went outside and the morning was foggy. “Its going to be foggy all day,” Faendal said confidently. The village was still asleep and only the muffled sounds of birds and running water filled the air. As they exited the village Faendal had Halas stop to go through some of the basics of archery.
Faendal explained that there would be much more training but that he believed an apprentice should have the opportunity to see why its important to hone your skills. “Immersion by fire,” Faendal smiled.
Faendal taught the basic scout stance. It would be one that Halas would know all too well in his career as a ranger. Ranger armor had extra padding on the knee area for this very reason. Halas had trouble balancing with the pack on but Faendal made him stay in the stance for what seemed like an eternity.
He showed Halas how to hold the bow in the left hand and then shift weight to pull an arrow from the quiver. Shift it again to ready a shot. All the while the weight on his bag seemed to make the effort harder.
His first shot was awful. They were aiming at a tree and Halas missed. “Not a very good start,” he muttered. Faendal looked at his apprentice, “I seem to remember a boy that couldn’t hit a log with an axe, but I wouldn’t see that now would I?” His statement sunk in. “I guess I need more practice.”
Faendal spotted some birds feeding on the ground. “Ok now take aim at one of those birds.”
Halas went through the motions of shifting his weight and drawing an arrow from the quiver. He notched the arrow and Faendal guided him on his position. “Aim above your target because the arrow will drop with distance,” Faendal reminded him. The bow string had a twang sound as the arrow was released. It sailed towards its target and for a moment Halas was hopeful. But the arrow was off mark and went skidding down the cobbled stones.
Halas was determined and in the distance saw a deer grazing near the river. “Now that is a target I can’t miss!” He was enthusiastic but Faendal was anything but. “You seriously expect to kill that beast with your bow?”
“Well I have poison so even if I don’t right away it should still die.” Faendal made his apprentice turn around and looked into his eyes. For a moment Halas was scared. Faendal was the most serious he has ever been.
“Being a ranger is about compassion.” He pointed at the deer and continued, “you might hit that deer and wound it, but your bow is not strong enough to make a kill shot.” He reached out and snapped open one of the pouches on his bandolier. Halas was starting to tremble some as the seriousness of his master continued, “This poison you made would not be enough to kill that deer.”
There was silence and Faendal lowered his head to the ground. “One of the things about being a Bosmer is that when an animal suffers I feel it. Your goal as a ranger is to minimize that. Be it a deer or an enemy the treatment is the same. The poison you carry is your guarantee to minimize suffering. “
Faendal lifted his head up and looked solemnly at his apprentice, “Only hunt what you can kill Halas. It is true you might strike that deer, and you might kill it with the poison. But what if you don’t?” Halas opened his mouth to answer but Faendal put his hand up.
“That animal might roam for days in agony as the wound you caused festers and eventually through great suffering the beast will die. That is a fate I do not wish on any living creature.”
The two continued in silence. Faendal showed Halas a slaughterfish nest and took the eggs into one of the empty apothecary pouches. Halas collected more thistle, blue and purple mountain flower, red mountain flower, mora topinalla. The ingredients were adding up. The followed the White River toward Lake Ilinata and eventually came upon a small hunter’s camp.
Faendal instructed Halas that it was important to talk to the hunters of an area. They had an intimate knowledge about changes in an area that even a ranger would not know. “Information is your best weapon.” Faendal stated as they bid goodbye to the hunter.
Halas spotted some ore on a nearby slope and he went over and started picking away at it. Wrapping each piece of ore in burlap to keep it from leeching red, it was one of the tricks Faendal had told him about.
They continued walking and Halas continued to gather ingredients and they soon reached a bend in the road that would take them back toward the water. Faendal suddenly gave the down signal with his hand and Halas went into the scout position. It took a moment for Halas to see why. There was a dead carcass on the road about 30 meters away.
Faendal took out his bow and so did Halas. Faendal instinctively walked sideways into some brush and Halas followed, albeit a bit noisier than he should have. Faendal cringed and let out a small sigh. “Sorry” Said Halas.
Having not spotted any movement after a few minutes the two approached the carcass. It had been dragged about 10 feet from where it was killed and there were bloody footprints on the ground.
“Is that a skeever? “ Halas whispered. Faendal looked at his apprentice, “You don’t have to whisper anymore.” He smiled as he said this. Halas was relieved. It was the first time they smiled since Faendal scolded him for wanting to kill the deer. “Yes it is. The question is what happened here?” Faendal was glad to find this as it enabled a good teaching moment for his apprentice.
“Looks like dog tracks. Maybe a hunting dog?” Halas answered hopefully.
Faendal pointed out the pattern and claws and size of the prints. “Wolves did this.”
One of the most difficult types of tracks to tell apart is that of hunting dog and wolf. It usually comes down to size. Wolves typically have very large paws to get through snow.
“Why would the wolves leave their prey?” Halas asked with a bewildered look. “A very good question. I don’t think we can find that out here on the road. He took out his knife and in one fluid motion cut off the tail of the skeever. He handed the tail to Halas. "Put this in one of the apothecary satchels." Halas looked at the nasty blood matted tail and gingerly packed it away. After a few moments Faendal continued.
We would have to do an extensive search along the dirt areas around the road and it could take a while. Also we haven’t had rain in a while and many tracks will have been walked on by others.”
Halas nodded as it made sense. One thing Faendal did notice was that the wolf tracks moved on the road along the lake. They were able to track them on the cobblestones until the blood on the pads of their feet was gone.
“The best way to keep from being tracked is to stay on the road,” Faendal said as he looked at the last tracks that simply stopped.
Faendal squinted. His elven vision superior of that to humans was able to discern some movement in the light mist along the lake.
“A hundred meters ahead is our pack of wolves.” Faendal said thoughtfully. “I want you to go up on those rocks there which should give us a good vantage point. Halas didn’t say anything but his body language spoke volumes. He was tense and could feel his heart racing. Halas knew that one wolf could kill but three wolves was certainly death for a ranger’s apprentice.
From the rocks they could see the three wolves clearly. Faendal already had his arrow notched and was in the scout position. “Aim small and you will miss small,” he said as he let one of his steel broadheads sail forth from his powerful bow. The shot took the wolf in the side sending it careening down the road. Faendal stayed crouched and notched another arrow. The two survivors were coming fast toward their position in the rocks. Halas felt his vision blur and his hands get sweaty. His mouth was dry as the beasts bounded toward them. Faendal let loose another arrow that sent the second wolf tumbling head over heels. The third one was bearing down on Halas and he went to pull the bow back. He hurried the shot and amazingly with the target right in front of him the arrow plunged into the dirt right in front of the beast.
“Stay still!” shouted Faendal. Halas did as he was told and as the beast was just a few feet in front Faendal sent a point blank shot into the wolves side and it collapsed a mere six inches from where Halas was standing.
Halas had been holding his breath and finally let it out as the wolf died in front of him. It was traumatic for him and he felt weak in the knees. Faendal told him to sit down and to eat something. Halas took out an apple and began to eat it, the events of the last few minutes playing through his head over and over.
Finally after a short period Faendal walked over to the nearest wolf and pulled the arrow out. He took out his ranger knife which was made of skyforge steel and began a cut down the abdomen.
“Come over here Halas I want you to see how to skin an animal.” Halas did so but looked at his master with a bit of shame. “I panicked. That wolf was right in front of me and I missed.” Faendal lifted the skin of the animal as he made the incision. “You want to lift up with your blade as you cut or you risk cutting open the guts and that makes cleaning the pelt harder.” He continued to cut right up to the jaw. He began an incision that would go down each leg connecting to the main incision.
Halas was watching but could not shake what had happened. “I panicked.” He said again. Faendal sighed and looked up from his task. “Yes you did. Tell me why?”
Halas basically said he was gripped with fear. He had watched helplessly as Faendal took down the wolves only to panic and not help.
Faendal put his hand on the shoulder of his apprentice. “Think of what you learned. I watched you and although you were scared you did not run away. You stood your ground. That is something to be proud of.”
Halas thought about this but it still bothered him at how much he had bungled everything. Faendal on the other hand thought that his apprentice had made great progress and displayed a unique type of courage. Although Halas could not see that now it would be a vital asset to him later.
For the next hour the pair worked on removing the skins of the wolves. They worked next to the lake so that they could clean their knives. Faendal instructed Halas on how to remove the excess fat on the inside of the skins and to rub salt to help loosen the remaining gristle. It also kept the skins from potentially rotting. When they got back to Riverwood they would rack the skins and finish the cleaning process by washing them in salt water.
“A good wolf skin can fetch almost 200 septims. They are prized for their warmth and unique colors.” Faendal said as he cut a circular incision around the genitals of one of the wolves. He went on to add that these would be the first of Halas’s treated skins and they would not fetch much of a price. Reputation would seem to have an impact on price as well as quality.
The two cleaned up and headed down the road where they ate a late lunch and Halas spotted some movement ahead. “I was wondering when you would see that.” Faendal smiled.
It was a fox and Faendal instructed Halas to coat one of his arrows with the poison. “Even if you don’t get a kill shot a fox is small and the poison will act quickly.” Halas assumed the scout position and took his time to line up the shot. However the fox was walking slowly away and he wasn’t sure how much to aim above. He second guessed himself and the arrow landed next to the fox which took off with lightning speed.
Halas again looked down in shame and Faendal told him to basically stop feeling sorry. He reassured him, “You are doing fine. What did you learn from this shot?” Halas explained how he second guessed himself at the last second and didn’t let his body relax enough.
Faendal nodded and told him that they would be going through much more training later. “I wanted you to see and experience first-hand how important it is to have a good technique when using your bow.”
"Its pretty obvious my technique is awful." He stated sadly.
Faendal had a theory with his apprentices that if you knocked them down then they would rise to the next challenge. Only time would tell with Halas but it seemed to be working.
As they continued their trek toward Half Moon Mill they found some nightshade alongside the road. Faendal explained that this was another ingredient that could be used in poisons. Halas gathered the flowers and put them into one of his bags.
“I am going to be very busy making potions aren’t I?” Halas asked. Faendal nodded. However he was distracted by a distant sound. It was a wolves howl.
“Come quietly. I want you to follow exactly where I walk. If you have to step on a stick make it a small one and make sure it breaks under your foot. Your boots are supple and should conceal the sound of it breaking."
The two skulked through the pine woods until they were behind a boulder. In a small clearing the wolf stood in profile, making a juicy target for any archer. Faendal instructed Halas to dose one of his arrows with poison. Halas did so and the wolf was hardly moving. Going through the motions of before he drew back the bow with the notched arrow. Faendal whispered some instructions. “Aim small miss small.”
Halas had his weight nearly perfectly balanced. He knew he had all the advantage. The wolf was oblivious to their presence. He felt the tension of the bowstring. His back muscles made strong from the weeks chopping wood. They did not protest at all and holding the bow at full tautness was effortless for the apprentice. His vision narrowed. The wolf was in a circle of clarity and the rest of the world seemed to disappear. Halas practically shot the arrow with his eyes. He held his breath and felt his heart -beat. He released the arrow between beats to avoid the microscopic bouncing of the bow.
The arrow left his bow on a beeline toward the target. A soft thud occurred as the bowstring snapped into the bracer on his left forearm. He threw his right arm out and back in a deliberate flowing motion to dissipate the force, and to keep his balance. He simultaneously lowered his bow as he watched with awe as the arrow careened toward its target. There was no sound. Everything seemed to stop. A soft “thwap” sound was all that was heard and the wolf went tumbling sideways.
“Halas smiled brightly and stayed crouched. The wolf tried to get up to run but fell down. Within second its breathing ceased.
As the two approached the wolf Faendal noted that the arrow was a good shot. It went right into the ribcage. However the tumbling had snapped off the arrow shaft so the arrow was worthless.
Halas was in a much better mood as he cleaned the skin of the wolf. The hour was growing late and as they headed up a small hill they could look down and see the mill where they would be spending the night.
Halas spent a moment surveying the area. It had a striking beauty to it. He realized that this is what he wanted to do. The euphoria of nailing that shot with the wolf had given him renewed confidence. A ranger had huge responsibilities. He felt inadequate earlier. What a difference an arrow makes. One single shot and Halas now had the determination to become a ranger. Faendal seemed to notice the more upright and confident stance and put his arm around him. “Let’s go down and set up camp and get some dinner Halas.” The two clamored down the rocks. As they made their way down the slope Faendal smiled inwardly as his apprentice went on and on excitedly about his first kill. Today had been a huge step for Halas, but the road to becoming a ranger was never smooth.
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