Exiles of the Grey Wolf Clan (part 2)

Continuing the journey of the little (and diminishing) group that has broken away from the Grey Wolf Clan and trekked off to find its own territory:

The survivors settled in to the camp site of the Trout Clan family. There were changes ... with their own hearth the band no longer needed a fire carrier so Smokey traded in his torch for a spear. And the young hunter Boy also graduated to a spear wielder. Hannah was chosen as Leader to replace Grendel. And they became the Ibex Clan after finding mysterious old drawings of this totem on an inner cave wall.

All well and good. But there were two niggles. First, they need to confirm their ownership of the territory by successfully hunting a Giant Grazer and offering it to the spirits. Second, the campsite they had taken over was clearly in use by more people than they had defeated. So where were they?

(3) The hunt at the salt lick 

Within a couple of weeks all the hunters of the Ibex Clan set out to kill a mammoth. More easily said than done, as they cannot afford any more losses and hope to survive as a group. Sure enough, a small herd was found gathered at a salt lick, half a days march from the campsite. The first photo shows the tabletop with the herd in position and the hunting party checking them out. Note the ibex at L.

“Funny looking mammoths” muttered Boy. Still it was agreed they were mammoths of some kind, and acceptable to the spirits, so the hunt could go ahead.

The hunters split into two groups, one would work around each flank of the herd. Boy and Smokey went L, Hannah and Brand went R. Cricket was left behind but disobeyed Mum and ran up behind the L flank hunters. Things didn't go too well. Lots of arrows and spears, no hits at all. And Hannah has been wounded by an aggressive beast (the others graze on mostly ignoring these insects!). The ibex went home in disgust.

Things went even more downhill after that. These might be dodgy-looking mammoths but they sure knew how to take on a hunting party, especially one that had forgotten the first rule of hunting giant grazers: stick together. Three beasts (including the large calf) received two wounds each (enough wounds to have killed a single beast if the hunters had their act together) but - disaster - Hannah and Boy were both killed. 

The survivors, Brand and Smokey, had the wounded calf  as their closest quarry. Their blood was up and they signal each other to concentrate on this target. Because it’s a calf it has Bulk of only 3, so one more wound will finish it. The young boy Cricket was hoping  to slip away from the enraged bull that was busy trampling Boy, and come to help the others.

In a desperate end game, Smokey was wounded by the calf but managed to bring it down. But there are now only three surviving members of the Ibex Clan (if you don’t count the ex-Trout Clan women back at camp) celebrating their offering to the spirits. In return, what will the spirits do for them?

(4) We want our valley back

Brand, Smokey and little Cricket face a bleak future. Realistically there’s no chance they can survive as an independent group until their conscript Trout women produce offspring, and those grow up to hunter age. Reinforcements from the Grey Wolf Clan are not coming. And somewhere out there, are more Trout folk with a bad attitude.

When Smokey has recovered (it was only a scratch) they reluctantly decide to retreat back to their original home. Maybe the Elders will let them back after suitable groveling, especially as both troublemakers (Rurik and Grendel) are dead.

But as they set off another party of the Trout folk appear and block their way. There are four hunters (2 spears, 2 clubs) and they clearly mean business. The Ibex Clan knows it’ll have to fight. It can’t run away. Surrender means becoming the dinner menu. A seemingly impossible victory is their only hope. 

For this game the Trout folk will be Hunters and the Ibex folk will be the Outfolk. However, in view of their desperate, nothing-to-lose situation I’m giving them (the Ibexes) 1 extra Bulk each and adjusting their Savagery by 1 (so they cause a wound by rolling ‘3’ rather than ‘4’, and Brand the archer disregards the ‘-1’ for shooting.

It wasn’t enough. Here’s the sad photo of the last stand of the Ibex Clan. Smokey killed one Trout hunter, and Brand wounded another, but they were both clubbed to the ground. The boy Cricket is still alive, but realistically his future seems likely to be short and involve kebabs.

So the Grey Wolf renegades have failed to establish a new Clan. With hindsight it was always an ambitious target with such a small group, especially as they lost members at every step. Becoming Leader of the group turned out to mean certain death! If the hunt at the salt lick hadn’t cost two hunters’ lives they could still have defeated the Trout counterattack, but there would only have been a stronger reaction next season, or the one after, if they had tried to stay in their new territory...