SCOUTING

It is your first time going out on a scouting trip and you aren't quite sure what you are looking for... Draw your rider and horse finding something new and interesting. 

With your inexperience in scouting you have forgotten to bring a bag to collect your findings/don't have large enough bag for what you have discovered. Draw your horse and rider figuring out a way to bring back what they have found on their adventure.

Your rider and horse get distracted while scouting one day and forget what time it was. Soon the night is upon them and they must find a place to sleep safely until the morning. Draw your rider and horse settling in for the night or finding a place to sleep in this new, interesting, and perhaps beautiful place.

You have gotten the idea and are learning to be a more productive scout. You venture out farther than you have been before and discover something shocking. Draw what your rider and horse have discovered or how they react to what they found.

Often scouting trips will last more than a few days and being able to determine edible food becomes very important. While out scouting your rider and/or horse found a plant that looks edible. They have never seen the plant before but are very hungry and contemplate eating it... What does your rider/horse do? Draw your rider/horse either finding the plant, eating the plant, or having a not-so-lovely time after eating the plant.

New objects are pretty interesting to find while scouting, but new animals and insects can be even more fascinating. Some might be harmless, some rather dangerous. Draw your rider and horse finding, tracking, studying, or attempting to capture a new animal or insect they have discovered. 

You are on your way to becoming a great scout, but you have gotten a bit too bold and have found yourself stuck in a perilous situation because of a simple mistake. Depict what your horse and rider did to get into that situation or how they are able to get out of it.

The weather can make a nice scouting trip turn into a nightmare. Draw your horse and rider dealing with bad weather. How does it affect their adventure? What do they learn from the experience?

Learning how to make tough decisions on the fly is important when you are scouting in a new place. While scouting your rider has suddenly fallen into a ravine and injured themselves. What happens? What do they do? Depict this traumatic event or how the rider and their horse gets through it.

Your journey has taken you into unfamiliar territory, and you find your way obstructed by perilous terrain. To persevere would be foolhardy, but finding another route could take more time than you have resources. Your character has a difficult choice to make - depict their decision.

As a scouter, learning to find things is only half the battle. Knowing how to avoid finding things is just as important, and finding the bandit camp you've stumbled across seems a really a good time to put your skills of avoidance to good use. Caution and attention to detail are essential - if you're caught, you may well loose more than just your nerve. Depict this scenario.

The mammoths are on the move, and hunting season has begun. Collaboration between hunters and scouters is the key to success. Find the mammoths, track their movements, anticipate their exact course and establish an ambush site, all the while maintaining a safe distance from the many and various large predators also in pursuit of the migrating behemoths, and report back to the hunting party. Easy, ...right? Depict this scenario.

Studying the native fauna of the areas you frequent is essential. Being able to predict where any particular group of animals will be at any given time of the day, season or year, their social and hunting behaviors, and when it is and is not safe to approach is a skill of great merit. So when something in their behavior changes in a most particular way, and your character suddenly finds themselves face to face with the unknown in the form of a creature they thought they knew well, it may very well be cause for concern, if not alarm. Find the cause of this upset, and, if applicable, a solution. You may need to enlist some help from a fellow scout.

When a natural disaster burdens your character's home locality, it's up to the scouts to find a way forward. With food and water now in short supply, the pressure is on to deliver the people a new source. Depict the disaster and how it has affected the people, and find a solution.

Self-taught scouts are few and far between, and learning the ropes without guidance is no easy task. A single mistake even at the initiate stage can end in disaster. Your characters knowledge of the land, and it's vast array of fauna and flora is invaluable, and seeing it successfully passed down to the next generation of scouts is a source of great pride to any veteran scout. Depict your character teaching an apprentice the essential foundations of self preservation whilst scouting.

You have now been scouting for a while and know almost all there is to know. Even with all of your experience things can still surprise you. Depict something unexpected happening to your horse and rider while out on a routine scouting trip.

Your travels have taken you back to a place you have scouted at before. Memories flood back and your horse and rider take a minute to remember their past adventures. Depict them exploring this old location or remembering something from their past. How have they grown since their last journey to this place?

While out scouting you see an inexperienced scout in trouble. Rushing to their aid you realize that the trouble is more that you anticipated and soon both you and the younger scout are in danger. Depict your rider and horse working with the other scout to get through this danger or draw the aftermath.