Sheepeater Cliff You're more than just a notch in my belt

Sunspire had proved to be a beautiful place and there was a decent amount of small prey to sustain the pack of their size, yet the lack of larger game worried her a little. Therefore, when she was not out hunting for her own table or working on caches, she had taken the job to scout the area of their recent home - took the job seriously and did it meticulously.

So far she had walked the length of the Whitefish river, marked in her mental map, where otters and water rats resided, had found some abandoned bird nests in the reeds. This would all become handy during the summer months. She would have continued her journey, had she not run into the most peculiar animal in the world. A grayish brown ungulate with an impressive set of horns. It was trotting accross the Hoshor plains and carried itself with such confidence and ease, that the perplexed predator, who saw this animal for the first time in her life, began to follow it from afar. 

Soon she arrived to a steep mountain terrain, crisscrossed with jagged rocks and cliffs. There the odd creature disappeared from her sight only to reappear several feet above her and looking down at her as a king would at a peasant.

Nara had grown tired of her usual spot near Greatwater lake. She liked watching the animals there and the mountain range with her home stretching out behind her. But today she wanted to find something else to do. 

She stayed close to the mountains and followed them at their base, towards the coast. Surprisingly a familiar scent blew her way. She recognized it as Wraen's and decided to track it to see what she was up to. 

Not much later, she saw Wraen standing in front of the wall of a steep moutain. Nara wanted to call out to her, but then she noticed a peculiar animal on a narrow ridge. She eyed it curiously. What would inspire a creature to put itself in such danger - one wrong move and it would tumble down, right into Wraen's jaws. As she didn't want to startle Wraen, Nara gave a short bark to alert her of her presence.

"Hi," Wraen turned her head and greeted Nara, who either drawn by the same odd creature or by the packmate's presence, had come into the scene. The goat she had been observing earlier had not been phased by one wolf and it looked hardly impressed, when another one joined the first. If they could sneer, it would do that just now. 

"Ever seen those guys before?" she asked the girl. "They are either very reckless or the most agile creatures I have met. I couldn't balance on that ledge even if I wanted to."

No, I haven't she answered, her eyes still on the creature. Why was it looking at her funny? It does seem very sure of its talents she said. She didn't like the animal, with its smug face and short horns. It probably thought that it could take on both of them. We'll see, Nara thought.

I'm up for a hunt if you are she told Wraen with a smirk. Maybe one of them could distract it while the other tried to catch it from behind. Or they could just push it off the ledge. 

"Very," Wraen agreed, though not revealing that the very smart and intelligent gaze of the animal was a little concerning. And in spite of her packmate's optimism, she couldn't help but feel that this was not going to be that easy of a task as it seemed from afar. 

"I suggest we go up the path and see, how he got there - and I have a feeling that, where there is one there should be others in the vicinity as well," she suggested, eager to buy some more time to observe and think about the best strategy. "Sounds like a plan?" she asked to hear Nara's opinion.

Although she was eager to hunt this animal, she knew Wraen was more experienced and so she decided not to question her judgement and agreed to her strategy. The jagged mountain wall did seem quite dangerous and heading up there without thinking didn't seem like such a good idea.

Nara started up the path. It was narrow, but it was passable. Although, there were lots of loose rocks, so she had to be careful where she put her paws. She turned her head to see if Wraen was behind her.

Nara did not question her decision, though Wraen would not have minded if she had. Unlike some particular wolves she had met before, there was no fear of being slighted by rude comments. 

She waited until her packmate had made some progress along the narrow pass, all the while keeping an eye to the goat. It seemed to have finished observing the landscape and the noticed that the two hunters were heading his way. With a contemptuous "Baaa" it left it's throne and soon appeared way further on the path the two had taken and then disappeared around the corner. 
 "Wasn't so smart after all," Wraen remarked to Nara, when they reached the spot were the path bent.

Feel free to decide, what is located around the corner. :)

Nara snickered at Wraen's remark. With her body low to the ground and careful steps, she crept closer toward the rocky wall where the creature had disappeared. She held her breath and listened closely. There was some shuffling to be heard. It sounded close. The goat must have thought that it was safe and hadn't taken the time to run. After one more look at Wraen, she jumped around the bent, hoping to surprise the animal.

The goat was standing there, yes, but it wasn't at all surprised. Neither were its twelve or so family member. They didn't budge one bit. And they looked angry.

Wraen silently cheered Nara up for her courage to take the step into the unknown and followed soon after, only to almost bump in her hindquarters and come to an awkward halt. She did not have to ask, what was wrong, because around 12 or more pairs of eyes were staring right at them. And they did not seem to be scared in the slightest. 

On the contrary - the first and by the looks of it - the most important goat in the herd took a bold step forward and lowered it's horned head towards the two predators. "Ehm..." Wraen was at loss of words or other suggestions other than take the polite advice and take a step back. But this was Nara's hunt - she was practicing and she had to make the decision, therefore her companion waited for her decision, eying the threatening goat in slight dismay.

Nara never took any risks and the one time she did, this happened. Great. The leader of the herd was bigger than the others and wasn't pleased with their presence. It was basically shoving its pointy-ends in her face. It was a warning for them to leave.

She slowly took a step to the right. While the leader kept its horns pointed at her, its eyes shifted from her to Wraen. And when she moved, the others quickly cowered behind their leader. They were scared, she could smell it. Nara lowered her head and growled lowly and the herd became even more uneasy, stepping forward and then backward again and they became noisier. Their horns may be sharp but it was a facade. 

Then she recognized the one they had seen before. It seemed a little younger than the others and it hid behind them. She couldn't get to it like that, she needed a diversion. If you distract their leader, I'll break up the herd and go after our little friend there she said to Wraen.

Wraen had almost been sure that Nara would decide to retreat, therefore her face fell, when the aspiring hunter announced that she was not giving up and intent on doing quite the opposite. Though other herd members seemed to be more distraught than their leader figure, they had power in numbers, sharp hooves and pointy horns. The last thing she wanted was being ganged upon and mobbed by a herd of goats. 

Then again - she had learned a thing or two, when she and Liffey had attempted to scare the cougar away (and boy did that turn out well), perhaps Nara's willingness to risk would pay off or... would be a valuable lesson to her.

"Let's see, what happens," Wraen took a bold step forward, feeling less courageous than she looked. She locked her gaze with the leader's and bared her fangs at him. 

We can dice-roll the path of the events from now on. Should be fun. :)

Roll - Damn those goats!

Wraen didn't look so sure of her plan and for a moment Nara hesitated. Maybe it was naive of her to think that she could take them on. But then again, fortune favors the brave, right?

Nara growled threateningly and took a step forward. But to her surprise, the herd didn't retreat. They were scared, yes, but it seemed that they were bold too.

A bit of luck this time - http://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=21685&pid=301078

Well, the goats were just as determined to stand their ground as the two wolves were. And they had more solid reason to do so than their enemies in front of them. Therefore Wraen more out of sense of duty and in the name of friendship, let out a little resigned sigh and sprang to action without much thinking (had she done the latter, she would have left the scene that instant). She barged in the middle of the herd like a bowling ball and the animals, who had not suspected this change of action scattered around her. Some taking their flight in Nara's direction, some - seemingly jumping off the ledge (not really) and some seeking distance from the duo up the path. 

Yet one was left standing - the leader him-/herself. It baaed angrily and kicked Wraen in the ribs just as she was to turn an look at her companion. A painful yelp escaped her lips, but before the assaulted party was able to take her revenge, the goat-chief had disappeared.

Roll - Nara has the worst of luck lmao

When Wraen jumped forward, Nara froze for a moment as everything around her turned to chaos. She was not prepared for this. 

The she heard a yelp and saw how Wraen got kicked. Wraen! she called out and in a panic rushed towards her. But before she could reach her packmate, a flash of white appeared before her. They locked eyes for a second before it charged at her and the headbutt that followed couldn't be avoided. Nara staggered backwards as her vision momentarily abandoned her. 

"Oh, boy..." said Wraen, when she was forced to stop focussing at her own sore side and see her brave (and reckless, but Wraen also took the blame from not dissuading) packmate taken down by a well-aimed head-butt from the chief goat. It shot a warning glance over at the one wolf, who was still standing, and then disappeared down the rocky mountain path. 

She approached Nara with a firm resolve that this would definitely be the last time, when she tried out untested/unproven ideas, because experience (twice now) showed that this never, ever ended well. "How are you feeling?" she asked, regarding her companion with a worried look.

I'm okay she said, still a bit dazed from the impact. Her head didn't hurt much, yet - as the pain was probably going to set in once the adrenaline had left her system.

Nara kept her head down and didn't dare to look at Wraen. It was stupid of her to take such a risk. I'm sorry, this was all my fault Nara said, almost inaudibly. She cursed herself for having dragged Wraen into this - all because of her foolish overconfidence. Are you hurt? Nara asked, suddenly remembering how the animal had hit Wraen in the ribs.

"Cheer up, lass," Wraen told, happy that the other was in a state of talking and standing on her own. Had she not been able to rise and walk, that would have been a definite doom. All the explanations to the authorities, plus, the hard choice of leaving her friend behind to fetch help - no, thank you.

"We learned something today, didn't we?" she said. "Plus, I can tell you, how I - not so long ago - got even in a bigger mess. With a cougar! So, the fact that the goat did not have fangs or claws, washes everything clean."

Though she still felt like a failure, she tried to get herself together and to embrace the situation as a valuable (and painful) learning experience, like Wraen said, and she nodded in agreement.

Wraen's next sentences made her immediately curious. She had never seen a cougar, but from the way her packmate spoke about it, she imagined that it was a creature much more dangerous than a couple of horned, arrogant ungulates - thus Nara was eager to listen to what had happened. How did you defeat the cougar? Nara asked her curiously.

"Well, first I have to warn you never to try it on your own, or on two, or - in fact - on three," though the story was exciting, Wraen really was not proud of how things had transpired and even now - remembering it - made her shudder. 

"We lived in Moonspear back then - I and Finley happened to come accross a cougar, who was stinking the inner territories and with this in mind, along with the fact that - if problem were left unattended, this guy could cause trouble later - we came up with a plan to scare it off. With us two being fast and advantage in numbers - this seemed like a good plan. At that time..." she paused.

"And we set to action and things went horribly wrong and then they went totally downhill from that point on," there had been a big mess and many memories from that exact point in time were nebulous (because this is such a grand word :) ). "We would have been badly beaten up and the cougar would have been prancing around with our heads as trophies had not Terance showed up and joined the fight. He got a nasty gash on his shoulder, Finley suffered scratches, I was hit on the head, but together we managed to kill the beast." She had almost wanted to add - for comical effect - the fact that, whatever noble trouble Terance got into he was bound to get an injury of some sorts, but decided that this did not fit the story this time.

"The moral of this story - don't piss off big cats. Unless you have a hefty back-up," she finished and smiled.

We could fade in your post?

Nara listened closely to Wraen's story and remembered the scars that Terance had on his shoulder. She quickly made a mental note never to mess with a cougar or anything remotely cougar-y. Also goats. I'll keep that in mind, she responded.

We should probably leave, Nara said after a while, throwing a concerned glance at the spot where the mountain goats had disappeared, because you're gonna have to drag me back to Sunspire if I get another hit like that, she added with a quick smile.

"Don't you worry - we learned, how not to deal with goats today," Wraen said, not to discourage Nara from ever trying again. If these ungulates also resided in Sunspire, this could become a very valuable food source to all pack. Therefore learning, how to deal with them would not only be useful, but of big importance as well. 

"Let's get going then," she said and led the way back to Sunspire.