Chapter 3A - The Hunt
With hurried whispers, the party advances to take the creature first by stealth, and then by speed. Gerhart and Thoren whispered quickly to one another and communicated their shared plan with a few quick hand gestures to the others.
With a single blast of the horn, the hunters surged into action. Ser Adham, Ser Berion, and Darvil each circled wide, giving the stag less of a chance to spot their early approach.
When Thoren's signal came, Gerhart struck first, having snuck into a good vantage. Despite the gloom, his arrow would have struck true, save that the beast shifted its weight at the last moment, leaving the arrow buried in the thick beard of fur at its throat rather than its eye. With a great call of alarm the beast surged away from the emerging calls of pursuit.
The calls of hounds leading Ser Thoren, Gerhart, and the dismounted squires forced the stag the Great Stag off the slope of the spur and into the natural valley.
From left and right, the horsemen came, their boar spears catching tiny flashes of broken, dappled sunlight as they flanked the beast on its way into the valley.
Ser Berion took the first pass; striking the beast mightily with a blow that would have shattered ribs with the cross-shaft alone, and left a long trail of blood as the beast continued its ragged flight. Ser Adham the second, scoring a meaty hit with his own spear that tore the weapon from his hand.Next Darvil came, riding ably, but struggling with the unfamiliar weight of the boar spear while mounted; twice he struck in quick succession, but both times managed only a glancing blow that failed to penetrate the beast’s hide, bloodied though it was. Ser Berion finished the beast, driving an already-bloodied spear into the beast’s side.
With a great crash the beast collapsed in the middle of a wide clearing, far better lit that the confines of the forest the party had just passed through. Now still, the raw size of the beast was near breathtaking, standing a full twenty five hands high, and with a score of tines and prongs arcing from its antlers. Ser Adham whistled softly as he approached, having fetched his spear from the edge of the clearing where it had fallen free, “As great a prize as any claimed within these woods in a hundred years Ser Berion, and cannily driven to ground, Ser Thoren, Gerhart and Darvil, I daresay we have made a formidable showing against Ser Naton and the Tullisons.”
[4XP for each PC present, 1 Glory for Ser Thoren for taking effective command of a succesful hunt, 1 Glory for Ser Berion for striking the killing blow]