Birthright: Tuornen IC

[Adam]

Cormac Rogerson was angry. His face was an impassive mask, as it always was, framed behind the thick, unkempt beard he wore at all times. As he spurred his grey horse up out of the stream, there was nothing outward that would indicate the man's irritation. But for the people that knew him, no one would ever have mistaken his mood for anything but dire. They could see it in the narrow squint of his grey eyes. They could see it in the viciousness with which he chewed on the plug of tobacco tucked into the corner of his mouth. They could see it in the way he had his bow strung and ready, hanging over his shoulder with one arrow expertly resting against the string.

And they could definitely see it in the yellow and black fletched arrow he twirled between his left thumb and forefinger, flicking the poison on the arrowhead off.

"Bloody poachers," he growled, eyes scanning the riverbank. "Big brave men that need a poisoned bloody arrow to kill a deer."

He looks through the underbrush before his eyes settle on a strand of grass, snapped at the middle by the stride of a man's boot. He nods sagely, spitting expertly past his boots to the ground.

"We'll see how they like pulling this thing out of their bloody arse." He spurs the horse, following the trail.

[ewancummins]

Cormac follows the trail uphill...


A few hours later, having lost and regained the trail twice, Cormac spots a man on foot with a loaded crossbow, creeping through the brush perpendicular to him, maybe ten yards distant. The crossbowman doesn't give any sign of having spotted Rogerson. He is intent on something out of Cormac's field of vision, beyond a screen of bushes.

[Adam]

Cormac examines the fletching on the man's crossbow bolts, seeing if it matches the arrow he carries, while sliding down from the saddle.

[RocEter]

The hunter evades the bandit and circles round through the bushes...

The quick game of hide and seeks ends when the two men comes face to face on a rocky hillside a short distance from the stream. The hunter darts in and strikes the bandit down with a blow of his longsword.

The hunter cleans the bandits blood off his sword using the bandits cloak or some other loose clothing. Sheathing his sword, he finds a place to hide a short distance away but still offers him a good view of the hill. He is hoping the bandits buddy finds the body, maybe he can lead him to the rest of the bandits.

[ewancummins]

It's not a match.

[ewancummins]

The hunter evades the bandit and circles round through the bushes...

The quick game of hide and seeks ends when the two men comes face to face on a rocky hillside a short distance from the stream. The hunter darts in and strikes the bandit down with a blow of his longsword.

The hunter cleans the bandits blood off his sword using the bandits cloak or some other loose clothing. Sheathing his sword, he finds a place to hide a short distance away but still offers him a good view of the hill. He is hoping the bandits buddy finds the body, maybe he can lead him to the rest of the bandits.

The hunter takes up his position...

[ewancummins]

Cormac's POV


The crossbowman raises his weapon,aiming at something past the bushes.

He still hasn't noticed Cormac.

A smile creeps over the man's face as his finger moves towards the metal trigger...

[Adam]

"Oy!" Cormac lets out a piercing whisper that carries to the crossbowman's ear. "Good 'unting out in these parts?"

He casually lowers his bow, stringing an arrow but not pulling it.

[ewancummins]

Cormac-

"Oy!" Cormac lets out a piercing whisper that carries to the crossbowman's ear. "Good 'unting out in these parts?"

He casually lowers his bow, stringing an arrow but not pulling it.

The crossbowman pulls his shot, sending the bolt tearing through the shrubs.

''AAhhh!" He cries out and turns to flee!



The Hunter

Something whizzes past the hunter, smacking into the rocky hillside with a metallic thud. He catches a glimpse of a man with a crossbow fleeing through the bushes and around the side of a hill.

[RocEter]

The hunter gives chase after the man with the crossbow.

[Adam]

His suspicions confirmed, Cormac raises his bow and pulls the arrow taught.

"You're not likely to outrun this arrow, mate," he says, "Stop or I'm putting this 'un in yer back."

[ewancummins]

The crossbowman stops in his tracks. He raises his weapon over his head and slowly turns round, maybe thirty feet from Cormac.

Just then, a cloaked figure bursts from the bushes to the left, the direction the crossbowman had fired.

[Adam]

"I've got him, friend," Cormac shouts to the new arrival, "Let's just see that crossbow laid on the ground in front o' you, lad. And let's nobody be movin' too quick now, lest I get surprised and let go o' this arrow by mistake."

He looks at the hunter. "So, were you the one he was shootin' a'? Or are you wi' him?"

[RocEter]

The hunter comes to a stop, just short of exiting the bushes.

He looks at the hunter. "So, were you the one he was shootin' a'? Or are you wi' him?

The hunter turns his attention to the man with the bow. "I reckon, I have you to thank for that bolt missing my hide." The hunter says. "I ain't with him but he does have something I want."

[Adam]

"Well, by all means, I think him shootin' at you means you got the right to look him over for what yer owed."