The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

The journey had been slow as the past few days were spent traveling the countryside. There were a few small villages they had to pass through, but most of the journey was spent on the road. Bjorn decided, since he could always sense where Tanisha was at all times, he would go hunting during the day while they traveled in the slow-moving convoy.

They would need the meat for the journey, and it would help him stay active and sharpen his hunting skill. More importantly, it would keep his mind off the fact that he still needed to relive more of his previous life’s memories. He didn’t want to think about the last thing he saw, but sitting with nothing left him with a lot of time for his mind to wander.

“Be back before sunset,” Tanisha called after him.

“Bring back something good,” Joha yelled.

Bjorn hissed loudly in response as he trotted off into the forest. It didn’t take long before the sound of the wagons faded into the distance. He was left in the serene calm of practically untouched wilderness. He would be traveling vaguely in the direction of Tanisha so he wouldn’t have to run too far to get back to her if she needed him or if he caught something significant.

“So, are we going to try to catch one of those horned things again?” Failsafe asked.

“Yep, but we'll be quieter this time,” Bjorn responded.

Bjorn and Failsafe had no idea what the creatures they were after were called. It looked almost like a deer, but at the same time, it had two sets of horns instead of antlers. Bjorn tried to hunt them twice now, but both times he came up empty-handed. He quickly found that he was too used to stomping around the city and lost every bit of stealth he had.

The horned creatures would hear him coming long before he could hunt them. Chasing them was not possible because they were fast. After the first poor excuse for a hunt, Bjorn knew they were quicker than a normal animal should be, but it was Failsafe that noticed when they ran their forward-most horns glowed. They concluded that it was some animal magic shenanigan at play.

Regardless, the animals seemed plentiful in their area now, so it wasn’t difficult to find them, especially since Bjorn could recognize the scent. He was trying to hunt them without using his breath attacks or letting Failsafe control one of the heads, as it seemed like it would be against the spirit of the challenge of his hunt. He needed to master slow and precise movement, utilizing all of his senses, which, since he had three heads, he could see, hear, and smell better than most creatures.

“There are some up ahead,” Failsafe whispered despite being in Bjorn’s head.

“I know,” Bjorn replied with a thought.

“Go slowly.”

Bjorn was low to the ground as he slowly snaked around a tree. Heads focused on different things since Bjorn wanted to practice splitting his attention. His left head navigated the dense forest and ensured he wasn’t about to step on any particularly crunchy sticks. The middle head watched the horned deer things grazing in the small meadow. Finally, his right head was in charge of scents and looking out for other things of interest. Bjorn knew he wasn’t the only predator in the forest and would prefer not to be caught off guard.

“I know,” Bjorn said.

“We can probably fit around that bush up there; it would be a good ambush spot.” 

Bjorn frustratedly responded, “I know that is where we—”

Failsafe cut him off. “Oh, watch out for your antlers.”

Bjorn was so distracted that he failed to notice when his left head’s antlers scraped against a bush and got partially tangled in the branches. The whole bush shook loudly which announced his presence as every one of the horned deer turned to face the noise. Bjorn had to decide right then and there, so he leaped at the closest one with all his might. It didn’t matter, though, as his jaws snapped shut on empty air, and the deer ran off with impossible speed.

“Aw, and we were so close that time,” Failsafe said in frustration.

Bjorn watched the last shadows of the horned deer vanish into the brush with frustration. He growled as he forced Failsafe into his right head to have something physical he could direct his anger towards. Failsafe bobbed up and down happily once he realized he had control of a head, only to shrink back once he saw Bjorn’s other two heads glaring at him.

“I had that one; I didn’t need the step-by-step narration!” Bjorn mentally projected his voice as his head both growled and hissed.

Failsafe shrunk even more. “I was just trying to help.”

“I didn’t need it,” Bjorn growled.

“Okay. Sorry.”

Bjorn regained control of the head, feeling like he had gotten the point across. The construct was silent, and he could focus on his next target. His tongue tasted the air, and he quickly found something else he could hunt in the direction he needed to go. As he turned, he tasted blood in the air from a fresh kill and some magic he had not tasted before. He was curious to see what had happened, but it wasn’t like the wendigo, and other predators didn’t hunt either. He could take out a predator but didn’t want the trouble of startling a wendigo hunting party, so he turned away and started tracking his next prey.

It was several hours of skulking around before Bjorn could find another target close enough to Tanisha to make it back before sundown. He wasn’t sure what it was by scent, but it was close. He could see most of it from behind a tree when he passed through one final thicket. It had the back end of one of the horned deer, but it looked like The rest of its body was obscured, so he wasn’t sure what it was doing.

Okay, second try!

Bjorn got as low to the ground as he could as he slowly snaked around the foliage and anything else that could give away his position. His tongues flicked out, and he was so close he could taste the creature’s emotions. He knew that it was alert but unaware of his presence. Bjorn wanted to strike the creature’s neck so he wouldn’t have to use his venom. Then, something changed, and the beast seemed spooked. Bjorn could taste blood in the air again, and he could tell that the creature was getting ready to run.

It’s now or never!

Identify
Name: None
Species: Unknown (Horned Deer)
Level: 7
Vocation: Forest Traffic Director

Bjorn nearly stopped when he saw the vocation of the horned deer, but he quickly disregarded it as a joke from Failsafe. He sprang forward and could see the exact moment the creature saw him. It nearly stumbled and tried to run away. It wasn’t fast enough, even as its front horns lit up with animal magic. Bjorn grabbed on with his claws and quickly tore into its hide as he tackled the buck horned deer to the ground. The creature was no problem after that; Bjorn was easily stronger, and it was over once he had it pinned.

“Finally, I got one!” Bjorn said mentally.

Failsafe had no response, but Bjorn was too glad to notice. He bounced around in excitement at his first successful hunt of these creatures. He felt better that he didn’t have to use his venom. All that was left now was somehow getting it back to Tanisha. The beast was larger than Bjorn, but with his strength and constitution, it was more about figuring out how to carry it than if he could.

“Do you think I should just drag it with my tail?” Bjorn asked, and this time, he waited for a response. “Uh, hello, Failsafe?”

Bjorn could feel the magic construct within his core. 

What’s gotten into him?

Regardless, Bjorn decided on a course of action after several more attempts to get Failsafe to respond. He used his long tail to slide the creature onto his back like a large and warm backpack. He trudged along at a moderate pace but had to stop a few times to readjust the buck.

It wasn’t long before Bjorn could hear Tanisha and Joha setting up camp for the night. They had traveled much further than he thought they would over the day, but the road was stone and quite large, so there weren’t any obstacles for the horse-drawn carriages.

“So we'll be in the next town tomorrow morning?” Tanisha’s voice carried in the still night air. “How can you tell where we are? Everything looks the same, and it’s all flat and confusing. Not to mention, we are in the middle of a forest.”

“It can be tricky, so let’s start with the basics,” Joha’s voice was warm but deep as always. “Look here. Do you see the road we are on? It is marked here in gray?”

“Yes, I see it,” Tanisha said with hesitation. “But how can you tell where we are on the road? Or that you are holding it upright?”

“I don’t know if you remember that stone marker we passed a few miles back. It had a symbol on it if you looked at it. It matches this one here; these represent landmarks.” Joha pointed to a series of symbols on the map. “So that is right here. We traveled at a pretty consistent pace after that, so that places us right around here.”

Tanisha groaned but nodded her head slowly. “I think I get it? But what about distances? How do you know we'll make it to the next village tomorrow?”

“That’s a good question,” Joha smiled as he readily jumped into an explanation. “This map has a scale. See this line here? It shows the distance. We estimate how far we’ve traveled by comparing the landmarks we've passed to this scale. With practice, you’ll get better at judging distances.”

Bjorn rustled through the last of the flora before he entered the camp. The horses looked at him but were unimpressed and went back to grazing. He found Joha and Tanisha shortly after; they were sitting around a campfire and waiting for him.

“I hope I get it soon, but something about maps just doesn’t make sense to me.” She stood up once she saw Bjorn, and her face lit up. “Big man, what did you catch?”

“That looks like a luminara horned buck. They are tricky to hunt. Good job.” Joha said.

“That means venison tonight!” Tanisha said happily. “Did you use your venom or poison?” Bjorn shook his head, no, and Tanisha beamed. “So, Joha, can you prepare the luminara? I'll watch how it is done after I wash our hunter; he is covered in blood.”

“Sounds good to me.”