Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140702211641/@comment-3293219-20140704171116

Tyler’s scavenger group, which consisted of Tyler, Pol, Set and an Imperial man, were hunting and gathering in the wilderness. Their job was to find food, medicine, clothing and anything else that the community would benefit from. Back when Irvine called the shots, when Colm ran the group, they used to wander the wilderness, looking for the odd wild animal but mostly camps to invade. Though many in the know disapproved of this, it did yield results, which is more than anyone can say about Tyler’s ‘honest’ way.

Families, with children were having to skip meals and some of the older citizens of the community were at risk of getting sick or worse. Tyler insisted that this was just a ‘dry spell’ but many thought it to be suspicious that this ‘dry spell’ had only started the week that he was put in charge of the scavenger team as Methral couldn’t stand Colm. Secretly, she’d put him back on the team and even make him the head of the scav team again, if she didn’t loathe him and his ways.

The Dunmer was growing desperate though and Set might just be that edge, that they needed. They had no idea about his tracking skills, immediately finding themselves impressed by his ability to track buck and deer in the wilderness. Set had been travelling with Pol for some time, carefully watching the ground ahead of him as he saw that the creature was close…

Real close…

“Do you see it?” Pol whispered, much to Set’s annoyance as he needed to focus and verbal communication was a sure fire way of disturbing the local wildlife.

“Use your eyes dipshit!” Set hissed as he continued to follow the trail, his eye fixed on the footprints ahead of him. He then paused, suddenly noticing something…

A small pool of blood…

Heh… This deer might be easier to catch than I thought…The Bosmer thought, with a grin as he shook his head and crept on after the creature as Pol, observant as he was, only just spotted the blood splatter.

It was likely that the deer had already been hit by someone else’s arrow, if he found it and killed it and claimed it, then it was his. Of course, he’d have to find it before the other hunter, which wouldn’t be easy…

Unless the other hunter was Tyler but it was always best to assume that it wasn’t and besides, a bit of competition is a good thing, every now and then. Set continued to follow the deer’s trail, finding more blood spots along the way as the creature seemed to be bleeding a lot heavier as it had most likely been hit again.

Judging the lack of footprints, it was quite obvious that the deer was being attacked with arrows or possibly magic and that the hunter was a long range fighter. In that case, he had to be careful, in case they were hostile, you could never tell with wilder folk…

“Pol! Keep a look out, this guy could try to kill us next…” The Bosmer ordered, not bothering to look up from the foot prints as he continued to follow them, as the deer galloped and its feet were barely touching the ground, its ‘footprints’ were just mere scuffs and they could quite easily be confused with other things, every day occurrences, which act as red herrings.

The footprints came to an end and a large scuff on the floor was the closest thing to a pot of gold at the end of this ‘rainbow.’ The deer had keeled over dead at this point as there were a number of blood splatters on the floor around it; it had obviously been dragged away.

“Shit…” Set grumbled as he heard rustling in the bushes and Tyler appeared, with the Imperial.

“Was that a good ‘shit’ or a bad ‘shit?” The Breton asked, with a grin, hoping to lighten the mood, failing miserably of course.

“It’s the kind of ‘shit’ that says ‘we’re fucked and we ain’t eatin’ tonight’…” Set replied, looking back to the gash in the floor and shaking his head before stomping in frustration.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Calm down, we’ve still got a few hours and we’ve caught som…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“We caught a squirrel Ty! A Squirrel!” The Bosmer snapped, seeming incredibly frustrated about the whole thing.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No wonder you people are fuckin’ starvin’ if you call this a good day…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Tyler frowned and folded his arms, he didn’t appreciate Set undermining his authority and he planned to make that clear.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Nobody said that this is a ‘good’ day… I’m saying, ‘at least we got something’…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“You that somethin’?” Set grumbled, gesturing to the malnourished squirrel, that hung from Tyler’s belt.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Cause it don’t look like somethin’ to me…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh yeah? Well you’ve been out here, what have you got? Other than a fucking attitude problem!?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Guys…” Pol interrupted, his voice was immediately drowned out by the tension between the two trackers as they got dangerously close to eachother’s faces.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I ain’t the one with the fuckin’ problem! You’re the one who can’t track for shit!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Guys!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s fucking rich, at least I caught something! What’ve you got? Did you manage to find a prize pig, whilst I was away or someth…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Guys!”

<p class="MsoNormal">This got their attention, both Bosmer and Breton turned to face the nord, with a quizzical look on their faces, immediately seeing why he’d gotten their attention.

<p class="MsoNormal">They could see it… Black smoke, rising up, in the distance… There was a camp, up ahead and they were cooking…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well I’ll be a Dreugh’s uncle…” Set muttered, glancing to Tyler, who was captivated by it.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Let’s… Go and ask ‘em…” The Breton suggested, stepping forward and immediately getting a laugh from Set.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Ask ‘em?” The Bosmer smirked, glancing between Pol and the Imperial, hoping that they saw how ridiculous this was.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, they might give us some, if they know how desperate we are…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah? And they might come back and fuck us later, I would…” Set grumbled taking a step forward and earning himself a disapproving eyeroll from his comrades.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What are you gonna say? ‘Oh kind sir, mind if we take that deer’s asshole to feed our kids?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s worth a try, not everyone’s a prick, like you Set…” Tyler snapped, turning around and following the deer’s trail, wandering off to the camp as he began to regret saving the life of this Bosmer…

<p class="MsoNormal">-

<p class="MsoNormal">The three of them stopped, just short of the camp, seeing the camp, with their own eyes. The Camp mostly consisted of Imperials and it was a lot smaller than theirs, the people didn’t look as well defended and none of them looked like they had military experience. There was nobody on watch, and they only had three tents between twelve people.

<p class="MsoNormal">A red haired imperial girl sat out in the open, bathing her baby in a steel tub, she looked incredibly clean, as did most of the other people at her camp. Due to their small numbers and their lack of exposure, the people here seemed to be doing quite well, other than the fact that their defences were almost laughably lacklustre for such a dangerous environment. In fact, the wilderness is even more dangerous now, due to the fact that it’s pretty much a free for all out here in the wilderness.

<p class="MsoNormal">The deer was being chopped up at the center of the camp, by an old man and what was presumably his grandson, a young Imperial boy, in his twenties. Without getting a decent scope of the camp, Tyler stood up and stepped out of the bushes, blowing their cover. A stupid mistake as now they’d all be done for, if these people were hostile.

<p class="MsoNormal">“E-Excuse me!” He blustered, prompting Set, Pol and their Imperial companion to jump up to their feet, giving him daggers. This of course startled them, the old man turned to them as did his young assistant and a middle aged Imperial ran inside his tent and returned with a sword and shield.

<p class="MsoNormal">“State your business Breton!” He snapped, he seemed to be the group leader.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tyler raised his hands for a brief moment before reaching out and stopping Set from advancing on them, he never liked the way that he looked at people and the last thing he needed right now was hostilities.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I just… wanted to talk…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Then speak…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Right…” Tyler muttered, nervously as he stepped forward on behalf of the group, clearing his throat as he did so. Set just folded his arms and looked to him, with a grin, this should be good…

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m… From a group, a much bigger group and… we’re looking for food and supplies. We were out tracking the deer that you killed this morning…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“So?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“So… We need food for our people; we have so many people, who could be fed with just a few slices of meat!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, you’d better go and find some of your own, quickly now, it’s getting dark.” The Imperial replied, rather coldly as he banged his sword against his shield.

<p class="MsoNormal">“But we…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“No! My son caught that deer, he tracked it and killed it and you are nothing but scavengers, you can have what’s left, once we move on!” The Imperial snapped, his voice echoed slightly as everyone fell silent, shrinking back.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Now get out of here!” The Imperial added, snapping at him and banging his sword and shield together again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Now!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Tyler’s group backed away, eventually pushing Set back with them as they knew that he was likely to start trouble. The four of them heeded the Imperial’s warnings and backed away, returning to the wilderness, all of them looked defeated and incredibly frustrated.

<p class="MsoNormal">-

<p class="MsoNormal">As they wandered deeper into the wilderness, Set found himself constantly looking back and finding an urge, deep inside his gut, to go back and take that deer by force. Tyler took the lead, not wanting his people to see his face, the look of defeat in it and he didn’t want to see their faces, the look of disappointment or resentment or worse…

<p class="MsoNormal">Pity…

<p class="MsoNormal">It was then that only three pairs of feet could be heard, someone came to a stop and predictably, it was Set.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I ain’t doin’ this…” He stated, firmly, putting his foot down and getting everyone’s attention as they turned to face him.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Excuse me?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“You heard… Our people are fuckin’ starvin’ and those assholes have everythin’…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Set… They won the deer, you said it yourself.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“So? This is life and fuckin’ death, if we don’t come back with that deer, we could lose people, people could get sick and die…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh Set… Don’t be so fucking over dramatic…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Ty… Don’t be such a fuckin’ asshole, we need that dear.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Tyler stopped, Set had plucked at the last straw, he was tired, weary and humiliated and this was the last thing he needed, he turned around, practically seething with rage.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Then what do you suggest!? Huh? Go back and rob those poor fuckers!?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“They didn’t look so fuckin’ ‘poor’ from where I was standin’… They had food, more than enough…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“They also had children!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“So do we… Don’t you get it? There ain’t enough food for everyone to eat, if we don’t take it? Someone or somethin’ else will! It’s survival of the mother fuckin’ fittest out here and the jackasses who go out huntin’ for eight hours, only to come back with one squirrel!? Those are dumb fuckers who bumped off of the food chain!” The Bosmer snapped, turning around and looking back to the direction of the camp.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Set… You can’t be serious…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m dead fuckin’ serious… This ain’t just huntin,’ it’s not like we’re ten years old and the worst thing that can happen is everyone laughs at us. Every night that we come home, empty handed? Another fuckin’ kid dies… So fuck them and fuck their mug little family and their shitty camp, I’m goin’ to get that deer!”

<p class="MsoNormal">With that Set drew his sword, his heart pounding out of his chest, he felt that this wasn’t right but…

<p class="MsoNormal">What had doing the ‘right’ thing brought him? He lost his wife, his girlfriend left him, Maria got hurt and killed, she offered herself to be hurt and killed and Julie punished herself in front of him. The nicer he was, the more he cared, the more he let people in…

<p class="MsoNormal">The more they hurt him…

<p class="MsoNormal">The Bosmer’s eye opened, fixed on the path ahead, he knew what he had to do, he didn’t care what the consequence was, he had to get that deer. His community needed it, Methral needed it, the children needed it…

<p class="MsoNormal">Lillith needed it…

<p class="MsoNormal">He raised it and looked at his own reflection as he set off, stepping deeper into the forest, getting some nervous looks from the others as he went back to the camp. Tyler, assuming that he was all talk, just shrugged and walked away, seething and shaking his head as he let Set do what he wanted, he would have done anyway and he had to be the one to go back to Methral and tell her that she hired a psychopath.

<p class="MsoNormal">-

<p class="MsoNormal">Set stormed through the wilderness, stomping through the bushes as he approached the camp, stopping just short of the first tent as everyone dropped what they were doing and grabbed their weapons, turning to face him, looking somewhat frightened as the Imperial boy ushered the women and children into a single tent, to hide them from the burned man, with the sword.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You again?” The Imperial snapped, approaching Set, with his weapon drawn as the old man picked up his meat cleaver and joined him, both of them stopped, just short of the Bosmer as they stood before him, the two of them looked like they were ready for a fight, intimidating to some people but not to Set.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I thought I told you to fuck off!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set just glared at him, taking a tighter grip of his sword as he did so.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You did…”

<p class="MsoNormal">The Imperial looked confused, glancing back to his supposed father before turning back to Set, feeling unnerved as he took a new grip on his sword.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well? Why’d you come back!? You got a death wish?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set continued to stare, part of him wanted to say ‘yes’ as it was incredibly close to the truth but he had a bigger drive now, a drive to protect his community, do Methral well and protect Lilith.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Whatever… Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” The Imperial lunged forward, hoping that the Bosmer would run off but he didn’t, instead he raised his sword to meet the Imperials, though unlike the Imperial, he did it so…

<p class="MsoNormal">Effortlessly.

<p class="MsoNormal">He swung it around, forcing the blade down to his side and eventually knocking it out of his hand before slashing the blade across his stomach, causing him to cry out and fall on his back. The old man’s hardened scowl faded, just for a second as he saw his only son get cut down.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No!”

<p class="MsoNormal">He charged forward, with his cleaver but immediately ran into the point of Set’s sword, which dug deep inside his chest cavity and out of his back. He squawked, due to the shock and pain and eventually looked down, to see the sword jutting out of his chest. Set pulled the sword out before slashing horizontally and decapitating the old Imperial.

<p class="MsoNormal">As the old man’s head rolled along the floor, Set looked to his blade, inspecting the blood on the end of it as it slowly tricked down, covering his own reflection. He eventually lowered the sword to his side and flicked the blood off the end of it before advancing deeper, into the camp, towards the tent with the women and children…

<p class="MsoNormal">-

<p class="MsoNormal">Methral sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes as she leant over the table, with the scav team, looking defeated behind her desk.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Tyler…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Look I…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“No, listen to me… This is getting worse every day, I mean; we couldn’t even feed a dog with this!” The Dunmer sighed, not out of anger but desperation.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well… We tried, we tracked a deer but it…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Methral sighed, pulling herself to her feet and glancing to him, however, her mouth hung open as she saw something enter, obscured by the shadow of the tent.

<p class="MsoNormal">A sack of meat, vegetables and potions was slammed on the table and rolled across, making the unaware scav team jump.

<p class="MsoNormal">“S-Set… You’re back!” She gasped, immediately opening and peering in the sack.

<p class="MsoNormal">“And you’ve found… G-Gods… This is enough to get us through the winter!”

<p class="MsoNormal">The others looked to Set, finding themselves uneasy at the fact that he was covered in blood and they knew that it wasn’t animal blood… It looked like he had bathed in the stuff…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Where did you… Find this?” She asked before looking up, gasping again as she saw him, covered in blood.

<p class="MsoNormal">Set said nothing and continued to stare at her…