Gruthikks hunt

[Therak]

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, the unfamiliar sounds of Nagrand surrounded Gruthikk as he made his way to the central area of Garadar. He'd been here a couple of days now, the smith was driving him hard in his attempts to teach him some new techniques. And Gruthikk could feel his muscles ache as he adjusted his hunting leathers. He'd gotten the day off as a few of the younger orcs had invited him to hunt with them today. Teach him how to hunt proper pray they said. Talbuks, and even a Clefthoof if they thought he was ready for it. There has been something odd in their eyes as they said that. But Gruthikk paid no mind to that. It was a good day, and a hunt would be a nice chance to get away from the smithy before evening. And see a bit of Nagrand in full daylight.
The three youngsters were already there, speaking quietly between eachother, once in a while letting out a laugh at the jokes of their friends. As Gruthikk closed in they stopped, and looked at him grinning.
"Throm'ka Gruthikk! Ready for the hunt?" Gruthikk smiled in greeting, nodding, still a bit tired after the night before. And not quite in the mood for talking more then he had to, until he'd been awake a while longer.
"We're heading off straight away, it's a good day for a hunt." With that, the three youngsters grabbed their spears and set off at a fast walk out westward.
They rounded the small lake north of Garadar, and then began moving slowly and deliberately. Gruthikk kept his spear ready, his mind focusing on the sounds around them, trying to ignore the birdsong and listen for the telltale sounds of larger animals moving. His eyes scanning the surroundings for prey. An hour passed, and they saw a clefthoof lumbering across a hill. The other hunters grinned at eachother, looking at Gruthikk.
"The clefthoof are probably a bit above you to hunt just yet. We'll show you how it's done, and when you've felled a talbuk you can give the clefthoof a try." With that, they dropped their spears, grabbing their daggers and began sneaking towards the clefthoof. And with a fierce warcry they launched themselves at it. One of them attempting to hamstring on of its hind legs, another one going up on its back, stabbing at its neck while the last one went straight for the soft tissues at the throat. The ensuing fight was chaotic, the orc in the back flying down on the ground, barely avoiding having his skull stomped in, but the end result was a dead clefthoof, the orcs bodies covered in blood, and their faces with pride and satisfaction. Gruthikk watched the whole scene playing out in front of him, wondering why they had not used their spears, but he assumed it was an attempt at showing their skill as hunters, and decided to smile and nod in recognition of their skill before heading up to help take care of the meat. When he reached them, one of them pointed towards movemement down the hill, where a large talbuk walked alone, grazing and completely oblivious to the four orcs. "Hey Gruthikk, there's something for you!" One of them said, grinning. "A talbuk, larger then they usually get, but you're a big orc, you can handle it. Remember, knife only!" Gruthikk looked at it, shrugging. Before leaving his spear with the orcs, letting them begin to take care of the meat, and watch as he were going to bring down his prey.
The Talbuk didn't startle as he expected when he got closer. But instead lifted is head, glaring at him, letting out a sound that could only be interpreted as a warning. When Gruthikk took the next step, it lowered its head and charged.
The damn thing was fast, damn fast even. Why hadn't they warned him about that? Before he could do much more then lift his knife, the thing was almost on him. He didn't notice until now just how sharp those horns looked, and how dangerous the hooves seemed. And at the last moment threw himself out of the way, barely avoiding the horns as they went straight for his torso. He rolled akwardly, barely getting to his feet again before it had turned.
"Think we should have warned him?" One of the orcs said as they watched the fight. One of the others nodded slowly, a worried look on his face. "We probably went too far sending him against a Talbuk without warning, aye..."
The next charge, Gruthikk atleast knew a bit more what he was up against, and was ready. As the Talbuk was almost upon him, he sidestepped, nimbly for an orc his size. But he didn't expect the Talbuk to be ready for it, and it turned his head towards him, one of its horn slashing him deeply across his chest, he could feel the horns bouncing along his ribs, cutting a burning path. Gruthikk let out a howl of pain, slashing out with his knife, just barely slipping beneath the chin of the talbuk ramming it straight into its throat, before falling backwards, rolling as quickly as he could to avoid the crushing hooves. And then rolling further to avoid the talbuk landing on him.
Gruthikk was still trying to catch his breath when the orcs got to him. He was feeling awfully lightheaded and couldn't quite make out what they said, but he figured it was something about the talbuk. And he nodded smiling, he did after all get it. He didn't make any protests when they began making a litter to drag him in. While another began dragging the talbuk back towards Garadar. Clefthoof, atleast for now, completely forgotten.

[Kozgugore]

(( Nice one! Despite the simplicity of the beginning, it made me want to keep on reading, curious as to what will eventually happen. Talbuk first, then clefthoof, and then on to the Gronn! RAWR! ))

[Gnash]

(( Nice read. And Gronn must be an endangered species by now, seeing how many orcs hunt them ))

[Therak]

((Actually, the idea is that, atleast from what I've heard a Talbuk is more dangerous then a clefthoof. And the orcs did it as a practical joke of sorts. This is also the perfect excuse to not participate in the tournament on sunday. He'll return with the orcs then. that's the plan ^^