93. Giant Hunting
Theren followed the tracks with ease. This was a giant after all and from what he could see of the tracks there were three of them. Two of them were small, well small for giants and only the size of ogres the third one was a lot bigger than he expected for this region. It might be such a thing that a new giant clan has moved to the region or maybe this one went rogue and was kicked out of the tribe. But that no longer mattered, he would eliminate the three of them.
The duo headed deeper into the woods following the trail and just before the sun went down they saw the fire in the distance. "Lana , I have a feeling that those are the giants that we are looking for." The big cat let out a low growl. "I agree. Let's move a little closer and I can try out my new bow."
Theren who could see almost as clear as day on this well lit evening got close enough to verify that they were indeed the group of three giants that he had been hunting. Then came the harder part and that was finding a good place to shoot from for his first few shots. His bow would shoot really far but the trees in the area were not so accommodating and he really wanted to see how far he could really shoot.
The night was at the midpoint and the light of the fire was low enough that he could let his vision fully shift over (which was a really weird feeling for a human) and pulled out his bow. "Lana, I am going to start the fight. Go a short distance ahead and sneak attack the last one to pass you."
The big cat disappeared into the trees in an instance. Theren activated his ring to hide easier and started letting the arrows fly. The first arrow was just a little off at the distance that he was shooting and made the giant guard wave his hand by his ear like he heard a bug. After some slight adjustments on the way that he was doing things. He sent another arrow, this one hit the giant right in the face and it bellowed in pain. Before it could figure out were the arrow came from another arrow hit it and then a third.
The giant race was not know for its intelligence and this one was dumber than the rest and kept spinning and looking around trying to figure out where the arrows were coming from. He stumbled around and kicked the other smaller giant, as his bellows of pain did not even make it roll over, and woke it up. Less than a dozen arrows later and the first giant, who never seemed to figure out where the arrows were coming from fell face first into the fire dead.
The second giant woke up the boss while the third one was running around like an idiot and it being smarter than the other two figured out where the arrows were coming from and sent the smaller giant in front of it as the first one fell dead. The smaller giant was not happy about it but knew that the arrows might be a quicker death than defying the boss.
Theren was still letting the arrows fly and was amazed at how stupid the first giant was. The second one showed some sense and got the third one. They the two of them started charging towards him. Theren knew how fast the giants could move and it was not a lot faster than a human and given their size they did not really run very often. They could move forward faster but it could not be called a run. He figured that based on this distance he had right around thirty seconds until they could get close enough to fight him in close combat.
Theren did not waste that and started with arrows as fast as he could get them out. He was not as worried about his accuracy given the situation and just started sending arrows as fast as he could. The first few hits threw the giant off its game and it slowed down just a little and Theren just kept firing. The third giant stayed right behind the first and when it started slowing down he started pushing it forward.
About half way between the sniper point and the camp Svetlana was hiding just off the trial in a bush the would not have hidden her huge frame in daylight. She watched as the giants walked by and saw that the second one was ducked down and made a great target. As soon as they passed the big cat leapt into action and landed on the back of the giant that was ducking down behind the one in front. The surprise attack caught the giant completely off guard as it did not hear the bush and did not even know the cat was there until it had latched onto its neck with her powerful jaws and wrapped her claws around the front of its face to tear at its eyes.
Theren saw Lana take out he last giant and sent a few more arrows. But then he thought that this would be a great opportunity to get to know a little more about hand to hand combat in this world. Unless he met a small group of goblins there was not a lot of chances for him to get used to this before he got heavily involved in this world. The giant was a minimal threat. He sent another arrow and saw that the giant was starting to wobble from the damage.
Theren looked at his short sword that he was carrying and realized that in his rush to create the ranger the way that he wanted to fight he had neglected to enchant his close combat weapon at the beginning. He was so worried about his bow and armor that he forgot that sometimes he had to fight face to face. This was going to be a big problem fighting something like the giant. He would have to talk to Novum once they got together and see who he recommended making his a weapon.
Even if he could not kill the giant with the sword he could fight it until he was satisfied and then break contact and kill it with his bow. He was not to worried about it. He leapt out of the tree and then like Svetlana he hid in a bush a short distance away from the trail. The giant was so happy that the arrows stopped coming that if figured the thing shooting at it was out of arrows. It charged forward towards the tree that he saw the arrows coming out of earlier.
Svetlana did not let go of the hold on the neck of the giant but bit even harder when it tired to reach back and grab her. She took a pretty hard blow when it swung its club behind it back at here but it was not enough to make her let go, or even do any real damage. But they she felt it when the giant was about to throw itself back against a big tree to try to smash her and without hesitation she twisted around the giant without letting go of its neck. The move not only made the giant slam itself into the tree hard enough to knock the tree over and fall down but it also ripped the entire side of the giant's throat out.
The rip was big enough that blood was flowing it the giant's airway and making it cough up blood to try and breath. The giant tried to get up but the damage was to much and it kept falling over and spraying the area with a thick layer of blood. Svetlana ignored the giant as she knew it would be dead in moments and went to help its master.
Theren let the giant walk by and then darted out behind it and slammed his sword into the back of its ankle. The sword was not magical but it was still sharp and it cut through the thin armor that was covering the tendon on the back of the ankle. The giant tried to take another step and the damage dropped it to its knee. Theren went to work and dodged back and forth avoiding the grabbing hands of the giant and attacking when he got the chance. Theren was not doing enough damage with the regular sword and was about to bring his bow back out when he saw the blood covered Lana coming up behind the giant. The cat was lying in wait for Theren's order.
Theren gave the nod and Lana hit the giant in the back like an arrow. Her huge jaw locked around the giant's head and he motion was so fast that she snapped the giant's neck with her force. "Good girl, Lana. So ,the other one is already dead then. Let me check them out and then we will go a short distance to the stream and get cleaned up. You are covered in blood."
Theren took all of the arrows that were not broken and put them up. He was honestly surprised by how little the giants were carrying. The only thing of any real interest was a not to the biggest giant about a meeting to work out a deal to help someone take out a local noble. Well in his opinion anyone that was willing to hire a giant was not better than a giant. He needed to go and have a little talk with this person. Theren was still a little annoyed but the limited amount of coin that he got from the giants.
'System, was there a particular reason that the giants did not have a lot of stuff on them?' The old DM in him would not accuse but ask fist in case there was a reason.
[Affirmative the giants were to familiarize yourself with the combat mechanics of the game both ranged and close. The giants were no threat to you without your companion and with your companion they were a teaching tool.]
'Okay then. Thank you for that. Have a great time.'
"Lana, let's get cleaned up and get some rest. We have a few people to talk to tomorrow." The cat let out a knowing growl based on his tone and ran off towards the stream to get cleaned up.