Tales of History - A Civ-Builder Quest

It was quickly decided that everything that the hunting party could not carry with them would be burned. Nothing except ash the beasts should find when they return, and hopefully hunger and winter would make sure that they would not trouble the tribe any longer. Some might have found such acts distasteful, given that their own tribe was tethering on the brink of starvation and was just as beleaguered by the snow, though Snow-Fox held no such convictions. A spear was just as deadly to his own kin than to his enemies, yet he wielded it regardless. It would have been foolish not to use all means at their disposal to fight the Snow Demons.

Gained Cultural Idea: Ruthlessness (Fad)

While his companions bound their prisoner and took stock of the food, Snow-Fox took a closer look at the dead. It was with no small surprise that he noticed that their pelt was not their own, but clothes. It needed a bit of time to find out how to open the heavy coat without damaging it, but when he finally undid the well-hidden buttons, he found a woman amidst all the fur. She was pale as the snow surrounding her, even though her body was still warm and even her hair was bleached and nearly devoid of color. It was eery to see something like this and were there not fresh blood seeping from her chest, he would have thought her a living corpse.

Many other strange features he had noted about what he thought their bodies turned out to be more clothes. The long claws sat not in their hands, but in a glove that was very long and contained a sturdy plate of bone to give it shape. What he thought misshapen feet were huge boots, made from a mix of bone and dried grass. Even though he had dismissed all their gear as crude, Snow Fox was impressed by their things and he realized that they were simply well worn. Especially the coat seemed to be nothing more than an endless tapestry of patches, held together with uncountable stitches.

All the while, the prisoner watched him closely and seemed visibly agitated as he inspected the coat further and rummaged through its many pockets. Apart from some rations, dried goat if he had to judge, they contained many small knick-knacks. Carved bones and stones that seemed to have no real purpose, sometimes resembling animals or men. A few of the nicer-looking he pieces he pocketed, the rest he threw aside, which prompted a few angry shouts of the prisoner through his gag.

Then a hunter came to him. "We are done, Snow-Fox, though the wood might not be enough to set everything ablaze."

Torn out of his musings, he looked to the cave. The Demons' supply of firewood lay strewn across it, with the broken baskets and their supplies on top of it. "Take the coats of the dead and lay the bodies on top, that should help. These things nearly fall apart, but cut off the gloves, boots and hood. We should look at those a bit closer back in the village."

The hunter nodded and took out his knife to carry out the task while Snow-Fox did the same with the coat he held. Again the prisoner tried to gnaw and shout through the ball of leather in his mouth, this time earning a few kicks and strikes with the side of a spear for his troubles. It took a while for him to calm down again and though they left him his mask so that he did not freeze to death on the way to the village, the hunters could still hear faint murmuring and something sounding almost like sobbing from him as they stacked the bodies into the cave. Why he did so, nobody asked, the hunters themselves a bit ill at ease to burn tribesmen and enemies like this, but there was no chance or sense in carrying four bodies back to the village just for burial.

And so the pyre came alight, first tinder and pelts, then wood and flesh. Black smoke rose from the mouth of the cave and the hunters stayed a while to see that truly all within was burning, then they left the cracked cliffs before the smoke would draw more foes.

---

Bittersweet was the return of the hunters to the village. Four of the tribe were dead and their kin in tears when they heard that it was not the cold or beasts that slew them, but bloodthirsty raiders from the mountains. All the more is the joy of the two families of the survivors. As for the prisoner, he never even made it to the village. As they had made camp that night, he had tried to run and attacked his guard. The huntress in question could not shake him off without resorting to her knife and the prisoner died to that wound before dawn came.

Not many questions could be answered, for he had feared the hunters greatly and refused to speak most of the time. What little information could be wrought from him were hysteric ravings that made little sense to Snow-Fox and his companions. First he refused to speak entirely and after a lot of prodding, he launched into a tirade, calling the hunters the Dark Men and shouting at them to leave his people alone. He seemed petty shaken by the burning of his fellows, for the horror at this deed featured in many of his ravings. It was not much more than the true name of the Snow Demons, who called themselves the White Clans, and a very rough idea where they hailed from that they learned. The latter though felt more like a good guess, since the only hint to these lands they got was a few pleas of the prisoner that the hunter should instead attack people he called the Goat Men, who apparently lived further towards the sunrise.

The council was quite troubled by these news, especially since it seemed likely that further Snow Demons would soon come to the valley. Maybe it was the very storms and snow that the people had cursed so often that had prevented their home from being found so far. Even if it was agreed by the council that the great beast should be tracked down, it sat ill with them to see so many hunters leave the village under these circumstances. Though two good things had come from the whole ordeal. The plundered meat would stretch the stocks of the tribe a bit and things taken from the dead had many of the tribe thinking about improving their own gear. Maybe it would be worthwhile to keep the hunters close, at least until the weather cleared somewhat and their journey to were the beast was suspected to be would be safer.


What did the council decide?
[] Stick to the previous decision. The hunters will try to find and slay the great beast. (Perform Hunting: Great Beast as planned)
[] First study the plundered gear of the Snow Demons. The hunts will be safer for it. (Hunting: Great Beast becomes Study Winter Equipment)
[] Let the hunters keep hunting, but closer to the village in case of an attack. Furthermore, they can scout for signs of the Demons. (Hunting: Great Beast becomes Hunting: Valley)
[] Let the hunter place traps in the forest around the village. For game and attackers both. (Hunting: Great Beast becomes Trapping)


AN: Sadly, the prisoner was too shocked by your behavior to be of any use. At first, I wanted to directly go on with the bear hunt, but I thought I should give you a chance to prepare for the potentially more imminent threat instead.