Helping the Tribe, Pt III [Job/Solo]

Job Overview: With the Screeching Horrors dealt with, the tribe would like your help with a Ravenous Bear. The creature is slowly depleting the smaller wildlife in the area and they are afraid it may impact their ability to hunt in the future.

Spoiler:

---

When Lexi woke up, she immediately made her way to the hut where the tamers were keeping the chicks and eggs. They smiled when she entered, showing her the healthy chicks. All but one had made it through the night, which was surprising given how young the chicks were. They showed her the eggs, which were being kept near a smoldering fire to keep them warm, the tamers occasionally turning them to keep the heat even. Satisfied she had not been responsible for the death of all the chicks but saddened at the loss of the one that had died in the night, Lexi made her way to Shana’s hut.

The woman smiled as Lexi ducked into the hut, eager to show her how resilient the feathers from the grown Horrors were. She explained how they planned to try and use the feathers as a way of protecting roofs of the huts. The feathers were more waterproof than the other materials they used, and while it was not practical to try and get enough feathers for everyone, they could use it to protect the meeting hut. The meat of the birds was not particularly good as fresh meat, the flesh was stringy and tough, but Shana assured Lexi it would make good dried meat or stew meat.

Lexi spent the rest of the afternoon helping Shana pluck the birds and divide the meat up for drying. The next couple of weeks were uneventful and Lexi found herself falling back into the pattern of helping around the village with various tasks. She particularly enjoyed the hunting parties, she and the other tamers taking their beasts out for hunts to fill the bellies of the creatures while having enough to spare to take back for the tribe. But life on the Plains was a constant struggle and it was not too long before she and the other hunters began to notice a lack of smaller game. While it was not uncommon for smaller game to deplete the longer they stayed in an area, it was becoming problematic. When sheep began disappearing, they knew something needed to be done.

When several sheep were devoured in one night, she began forming a plan with the other hunters of the tribe, each of them agreeing to split up and begin watching the outer edges of the fields, hoping to catch whatever was responsible. Lexi and Onyx took turns guarding one particular field, Leo accompanying them in case he needed to run back for help. A week went by and there was still no sign of whatever had been destroying the smaller animals in the area. Every day, Lexi visited the hut of the tamers, eager to see the progress of the chicks. The chicks were thriving on the mashed food the tamers fed them and within a week, the eggs began to hatch. While the chicks they had brought back had required some work to gain their trust, the newly hatching chicks immediately imprinted on the tamers, assuming the humans to be their parents.

During her visits, Lexi made friends with one of the tamers who had a hawk as a companion. She had seen the hawk during hunts and was impressed with how smart the creature was. She began contemplating taking one of the new chicks to tame for herself. While Leo was a formidable foe, he was limited to the ground. It would be nice to have a bird to scout ahead and to attack from the air. Shelving the idea for now, Lexi found herself rushing to find a place to empty her stomach once more. When Tak came running up, he found her using a damp cloth to clean her face before burying the evidence of her sickness. The man had a worried look on his face, but his news was urgent.

“We have found what has been destroying the herd!”

Lexi pushed to her feet, giving a small nod of appreciation at him not mentioning her illness before asking what they would be hunting.

“There is a large bear… The bears around here are usually fairly small, as they grow, they move to areas with larger game. But, this one is very large… it appears it appreciates the constant food source we provide.”

Lexi hummed for a moment, remembering the birds and the chicks.

“And… is it just the one bear? Or is it several?”

Tak understood what she was asking.

“It is a male bear. We have not found its den yet, so we cannot confirm if it has a family or not, but typically male bears travel alone until breeding season.”

Using her foot to nudge more dirt over the evidence of her empty stomach, Lexi took a deep breath to settle her roiling belly.

“Very well, let us make certain this one does not have a family to feed before we kill it.”

---

She and one of the other hunters tracked the bear for almost a week, making sure to shoot off warning shots whenever it got too close to the flock, but not harming it. Finally, they found its den, a small cave. There was no evidence of another bear, so Lexi began making plans for taking down the ravenous beast. While it had as much right to the small game as they did, it was making it quite difficult to ignore, especially with the attacks to the flock. She hardened her resolve to having to destroy another creature.

That night, Lexi worked on making several more arrows, resupplying her stock with strong, durable arrows. Her recent hunting had depleted the number in her quiver and she did not know how many arrows it might take to kill a bear, she had never hunted anything quite so large and well-defended. When she had hunted in Heliohapt, the animals had been fierce, but they were built more for withstanding the ungodly heat than arrows. A bear had very thick fur and many layers of fat defending the vital organs. She did not want to bring Leo along, afraid the tiger would become harmed by such a large creature. She would hopefully be able to destroy it from a distance before it had a chance to come close enough to harm her.

---

Tak gave Lexi a stern look, not liking the idea of sending her after the bear alone. He knew he and Onyx would be useless, both of them relying on being in close quarters to defeat creatures, but he knew the young woman had not been feeling well and worried about Lexi leaving even Leo behind. When Lexi finally left to begin hunting down the bear, he watched as Leo waited until his mistress was out of sight before slinking off after her at a distance. Tak gave a small smile, glad to see the tiger was putting his mistress’ safety before her order.

Lexi rolled her eyes as she heard a twig snap behind her as she moved closer to the cave. The weight it would take to make that sound in addition to how careful the creature was being to avoid detection told her it was not the bear stalking her but her own tiger. She knew it would be useless now to send Leo back to the village and allowed him to quietly stalk her, hoping he would be content to stay out of the fight unless she was in danger. It never hurt to have an ally at her side in case her shots missed. Finally, the cave came into view and Lexi began making preparations. The cave was not deep, more like a large outcropping of rocks to defend the bear from the elements. This would make it easy for her to set up a trap and direct the bear into a good spot to strike true.

Pulling four arrows from her quiver with special tips, Lexi carefully set up her shot. With a deep breath, she released Quad Boom. She had aimed carefully, two arrows landing on each side of the bear, not striking it. The resulting small explosions frightened the bear and made it come running from the cave. This made it easier to aim for a tender spot on the bear. Lexi pulled another arrow from her quiver, launching Death Shot forward. Unfortunately, the fire had frightened the bear and it was preparing for another attack. It used Solid Body to make the incoming arrow harmless. With a curse, Lexi fumbled in her quiver. As the bear lumbered towards her, Leo reacted out of instinct, giving a loud roar as he jumped from his hiding spot. Lexi gave a small smile, Leo’s distraction would give her a moment to line up another shot. Four arrows left her bow, the Multi-Shot striking into the bears fur in four places.

That attack alone was not enough to bring the bear down, but Leo gave a mighty cry as he tackled the bear, making it roll to the side. While the bear shook its head, disoriented slightly from being shot with arrows and then tackled, Leo took the opportunity to bite the bears throat, his massive fangs sinking into the bear’s neck and then he shook his head, ripping out the bear’s throat. The bear gave a rumble of disbelief as it crumbled to the ground.

Lexi was cautious as she approached the bear, Leo still on guard as he stood panting, blood and fur hanging from his powerful jaws. The bear was indeed dead and Lexi gave a sigh of relief. Hopefully with the bear dead, the smaller wildlife would return and flourish in the area. She frowned as she looked at the corpse, unsure of how to get it back to the village. Leo was strong, but the bear was nearly twice his size. Kneeling in front of the tiger, she lovingly pet his head before nodding back to the village.

“Go get Onyx and Tak, boy. Mommy needs help getting this thing back.”

Giving a yowl of affirmation, the tiger began running back to the village, not fully understanding what Lexi was asking but recognizing the word ‘Onyx’. He bounded into the hut, tugging at Onyx’ shirt and pulling the sleeping man from the tent. Tak saw the tiger return and drag at Onyx and came over to investigate, following the tiger and the young man to Lexi’s location. With some inventive use of rope, they made a harness for Leo and used a couple of branches and more rope to make a stretcher to drag the bear back to the village. The tribe would eat well off the meat of the creature.

[1777/1500]
[Stamina: 150/250]

Spoiler: