Evil Spirits (1/2): another PDEE season with the Grey Wolf Clan

While my work-gaming balance has been disrupted of late, Mark has been enjoying prehistory month!

It’s February again, so it must be time to drop in on the Grey Wolf (and Trout) clans to see what’s happening in Palaeo Land (last seen here). I’m stringing together 4 games this season, with a narrative thread that reflects our own times. 

Just another springtime hunt

As the snow thaws and the herds return, the Grey Wolf clan send out the first hunting party of the new year. Five hunters head for the Western uplands, led by Blondie, along with Rachel, Bow, Red, and Grumpy (with his hound, Growly). Blondie has a club, Bow has a bow, the others have spears. Here they are lined up for a pre-hunt ochre & soot drawing:

The Elders have ordered Blondie to bring back at least 10 bulk of kills to the camp (the clan use travois for this).

Here is the valley, with the hunting  party approaching from the SE. From the hilltop they can see 6 reindeer, 5 ibex, and 2 warthogs. All herd grazers, worth 2 bulk each. Plenty of prey, but the hard part will be bringing it down without starting a flee reaction that takes too many animals out of reach.

Blondie decides it’ll have to be an ambush hunt, with Bow and Rachel sent around the far side to spook the herds towards the other hunters who’ll be concealed in the flight path of the spooked animals. If all goes well.

Some Turns later everyone is in position, with only inconsequential beast reactions so far.  The spookers are hiding behind the snow in the top R corner. Blondie is in the scrub patch on the hill at bottom R. Red, Grumpy & Growly are in ambush along the bottom table edge.

Blondie does his famous bird call impressions (so as to not alarm the grazers) and the ambush kicks off. After 2 Turns  The hunters are doing well. The herds are not too fragmented, and are mostly heading towards the waiting hunters. One ibex has already been downed: wounded by a arrow and finished by a spear thrown by Red. But Growly the hound has been wounded by an enraged warthog who charged the stalking hound.

After another Turn  The hunt is going well. Bow wounded 2 more grazers, which fled directly towards the waiting hunters. Now 4 beasts are down, including the warthog. The hound Growly, having killed the warthog (helped by a thrown spear from Grumpy) is now stalking the other warthog. The hunt leader Blondie has taken a wound though, from a reindeer. Can’t tell yet how serious this might be.

Overall, the tactic of spooking prey towards a static ambush line seems to be a winner against herd grazers. The ambush line doesn’t need to spend activations on moving, so can throw >1 spear per activation with any luck. Though I have to say the attack dice rolling by the hunters, so far today, has been outstanding. Bow in particular, needing 4+ to wound a herd grazer, has hardly missed a shot. Growly has also been an effective team member, not usual for hounds IME.

Two more Turns and the surviving herd grazers have fled the field.  One wounded ibex has fled to the R pursued by Blondie and Rachel. All the rest are stampeding off at upper L, pursued by Red, Grumpy, and Growly.

 The hunt has been a success, with 2 reindeer, 2 ibex, and 1 warthog brought down. Three of the fleeing beasts are wounded, so could possibly also be added to the bag if the hunters pursue them.

But Blondie calls off the chase. His wound is serious and he wants to get back with the catch.  But Grumpy and Red investigate the scrub thicket as they come back, as interesting things are sometimes found around rocky outcrops surrounded by scrub. And sure enough … 

It’s a Trout Clan woman with a baby. All alone, and a long way from the nearest Trout cave. She can be brought back to the Grey Wolf  camp, for the Elders to decide her fate. Breeder or Brunch are the usual options.

****

A moon has passed since Blondie and the hunting party returned, laden with kills and also the Trout captive. But all is not well with the Grey Wolf clan. Blondie died from his wound a few days after the return. More and more Clan members are feeling unwell, and a few have also died. Now the Clan Chief also is unwell. A search begins for the source of the evil.

The shamans cannot find anything. Talk turns to the option of a propitiating human sacrifice. But just then a visitor arrives. The Hare is a trader who journeys between the widely scattered clans, exchanging shell beads, and coloured stones, for the best furs, bone needles, and sinew thread. Such people are always welcome, as much for their news as the goods they carry. And the news is ominous. A mysterious evil is spreading across the land, sickening and even killing whoever it encounters. The wandering spirits take female forms …

Even though the Trout captive is promptly disposed of after this revelation, it’s too late for the Chief and some other sick Clan members. Then the sickness fades away again as the days pass. And soon other business takes centre stage, as the adult hunters size each other up: who will be the new Chief?

There are five real contenders, each with a following. How to adjudicate their competing claims without coming to blows? The oldest Elder is consulted, and bit by bit the traditional ritual is recalled and reconstructed. 

Here they are (L-R): Grumpy, Blue, Yeller, Brown, and Raquel 

Here is the traditional Arena for determining who shall take a contested Chieftanship.  One contender will start from the midpoint of each side, and the fifth (determined at random) can choose his or her start point along any edge. Each piece of terrain may or may not contain a beast, most likely an Apex predator, but possibly a few Pack predators or - note this carefully - a Jubjub bird. Beast disposition is also determined randomly. The contender who makes it off table alive, with the Jubjub bird, is hailed the new Chief. But his or her table exit point must be the side opposite their starting side.

Other than this it’s no holds barred. All contenders are spear-armed. 

After 3 Turns the hunt is well under way. Disappointingly for theorists of human cultural evolution, none of the contenders has made any effort to cooperate with another, so far .

 At top L Yeller has actually located the Jubjub bird, and seized it. He hasn’t yet thought about how to get away with it, which would be off the R table edge. At top R Blue is searching the smaller swamp, so for without luck. In the C, Raquel has encountered a giant ground sloth. She has wounded it but then was forced to retreat by its savage roaring. At lower R Grumpy has encountered a couple of cave Hyaenas. He took a wound in killing the first, and the other has retreated - for now. Lastly, Brown is cautiously approaching the central forest, on the opposite side to Raquel. No-one has 

gone for the lower L swamp.

Blue was the first contender to fall, killed in the upper R swamp by a water monster (apex predator) that suddenly appeared. Not before the beast took 4 wounds though. 

Grumpy fell next, killed by the other Cave Hyaena in the lower R forest. 

With Blue out of contention and Brown having disappeared into the C undergrowth, Yeller sees his chance. Grasping the Jubjub bird firmly around the throat, he makes a run for the exit. But Brown spots this, and, with extra incentive provided by the Cave Bear that has just appeared in front of him, rolls brilliantly to double back out of the forest to intercept Yeller. 

 Meanwhile the Giant Sloth is chasing Raquel, who is now wounded (though she has given the beast 2 wounds).

The Giant Sloth killed Raquel, leaving only Yeller (in possession) and Brown as the remaining contenders. Unable to reach an understanding, Yeller rolled activation dice, and failed one. The nearest beast was the Cave Bear in the C forest (the swamp monster couldn’t move out of the water) and it attacked towards the pair of hunters, ending less than M from them. 

 Brown then rolled identically, and the Bear attacked Brown, but failed. Brown’s spear thrust also failed. Yeller then activated on 3 dice and put distance between himself (with JJ bird) and Brown and the Bear. The Bear didn’t react (“Rest”) to the first Lope, it chased Yeller (“Attack”) on his second Lope, and it Roared in reaction to his third Lope.

Here’s the final position, with Yeller & the JubJub bird about to leave the table. Exiting pursued by a bear.  In the background the swamp monster, and Brown, gnash their teeth in frustration.

So Yeller will be the new Chief of the Grey Wolf Clan. 

The season will be continued in part 2/2!