Quote:
"Today on Asakaze... we're out for rakers!"
[CUT TO MONTAGE OF STILL IMAGES OF LARGE, WINGED, PREDATORY MAMMALS. SOME ARE GRAINY CANDIDS, OTHERS ARE ARTISTS' RENDERINGS]
"These majestic predators are native to the planet. They've got a bit of an uneasy relationship with the colonists."
[HANDHELD, INADEQUATELY LIT FOOTAGE OF FARMERS INSPECTING A DEAD OTORI. CUT TO FOOTAGE OF SAMURAI SHOULDERING GUNS]
[CUT AGAIN TO SHIBA ATSUMORI, LOOKING... UNEASY]
"The locals deal with these incursions by mounting big raker hunts. Can't help but feel there's gotta be a better way... but I'm a guest here, and as my gran says, 'when you're new to the village, do as the villagers do.' Can't go disobeyin' the elders, 'specially when it's for the miai. "
[AS HOLORECORDER IS SET FACE-DOWN, VIDEO GOES DARK. AUDIO RECORDER PICKS UP A FEW SECONDS OF MUFFLED SPEECH BEFORE SHUT-OFF.]
"I dunno, I don't like it. Thirty of us out there shootin'... who knows what else goes out of true when you take that many mid-chain predators out at once..."
Atsumori's misgivings were temporarily forgotten, though, when he found the track of a wild raker. A big one! In an excited undertone, he described the trail signs to his hovering camera drone, steering it in close to inspect a particularly beautiful set of claw marks on a fungal branch.
"This looks like the spot. She'll be coming by here again any minute, unless I miss my guess." His grin at the camera was laced with tension, but his long experience with Foliage Cosplay didn't betray him now. Flawlessly concealed, he watched the huge raker swoop in with half of a young wild otori grasped in his claws. He lined up what should have been the perfect shot, and...
... he just couldn't. Somewhere between drawing a precise bead on the creature's batlike head and squeezing the trigger with practiced smoothness, Mori flinched. The undergrowth around his hiding place rustled softly, and the raker hopped sideways at the same moment Mori's trigger hand twitched. His shot scored a charred slash into the trunk of a giant mushroom, and the raker flapped away unharmed.
Maybe it was for the best? Which didn't make it
not embarrassing to come back empty-handed (save for some decent B-roll drone footage, at least).
--
Hunting: success with 1 raise
D5 LM event--track the mighty beast! Hunting/Per, 1CR = TN 20:
5d10o10k3 35Hiding: Success with 2 raises
D5 LM event--sneak up on the mighty beast! Bush cosplay GO! Stealth/Agi, 2CR = TN 25, VP:
5d10o10k4 38Shooting: Missed (with 2 CR plus 5 FR
)
D5 LM event--bullseye the womp ra--err, raker! Firearms/Ref, 2 CR= TN 25:
6d10o10k4 20No points!