Wolf RPG

He had left the first group in Heph's capable paws. And now he moved to the new wolf of Moonsong. A part of him wanted this male to prove himself. He had heard stories, rumors. But he also knew that the man could hunt. He needed capable wolves at the helm of these groups. He had first thought of Aiolos, but the was aging and it felt unfair to ask him to run a hunt.
Rodyn knew that they would need more than one group, but this would work out well. For then they would fell more bison than only one. More meat, more fur, more everything for the sheer number of wolves in attendance.

As they all came to him he lifted his voice out and spoke strongly. Welcome, and glad to see you. Let us get this underway.

Rodyn found his way to @Kaluktuk side and smiled at him and then looked at the sea of faces before him.

Please Join Kaluktuk. @Kyrell from Hearthwood, @Bronte from Brecheliant, @Boone from Hearthwood, @Raiyuk from Moontide, @Sulukinak and @Raelle of Sapphique and @Meylodi
Rodyn looked out over and used his paw to point out some of the bison. There are some with limps, some old and some young. You may choose from which you wish to go for. I suggest most on the sides. Be wary of horns and hooves. @Kukutux will be at the healers den if you should get hurt. And please have fun, but be strong.

Then he smiled and moved away letting Kaluktuk choose what he would do.

The groups had been sorted, and Rae was mildly frustrated to find that she knew none of the wolves in her own. Led by a pale man, with an assortment of youth and other strangers. One of them was oddly proportioned beneath her dark fur; another was probably the biggest fucker she'd ever seen.

Well, no time like the present to get acquainted with them. Rae nodded to each of them, moving closer to mingle among the others she was meant to hunt with.

With one group organized, Kaluktuk waited and listened for his own name and those he would be hunting with. Before long Rodyn was calling for him. Those that were named came from many different places and he did not recognize many! He gave Njord a friendly look and called to him, Aokatti! We will hunt another day! And then advanced from the gathered bodies to seek those that had been named.

There were young men he could put to good use (Raiyuk, Kyrell and Boone) and a few women who looked more like girls, with one a reluctant shadow (Bronte, Raelle, Sulukinak). Kaluktuk chuffed to bring their attention to him.

We will go now to the edge of the herd. Come! As he said this he moved, and expected those people to follow; he had scouted possible targets while the camps had been built, and had one in mind that their able-bodies would contend with.

As they came to a meeting point beneath a singular tree (bent by wind and very old), Kaluktuk motioned towards the herd. There were young bull bison, some which groaned and stamped, and some which butted heads; one of the younger ones looked to have been injured by these antics and had been driven a short distance away from the others.

There, that beast with the cracked horn! Indeed, one of its crowning points was missing and it's face was bloodied. Even from a safe distance it was possible to see how it favored one eye, and one side of the body. Kaluktuk gave some instruction now to the hunters.

To @Kyrell, @Raelle and Raiyuk: When I signal, go forward with shouts and with teeth to drive back the herd. Be careful! We want this one further from them. It is hurt but they are still one family, and we do not want the other bison to defend. We want them to run.

To @Boone and @Bronte: We will keep an eye on any bison who do not heed their teeth, and take turns driving our target farther away.

Then for all of them, Once this is done, we will go together against the one. It is already hurt and tired, and we will together tire it until the killing blow. Remember that any prey when cornered is a dangerous one!

He looked among the younger hunters with a seriousness that bordered on paternal; then, grinning, laughed and closed out his instructions: Be ready! Let us hunt!

By mistake (and likely because she is so quiet) he has missed giving orders to Sulukinak, but does not know it. This was fortuitous, as another was named and sent their way (@Meylodi); when Kaluktuk saw this he hastened to count the heads and then allocate these extra sets of teeth to their places.

To these two women he says, Keep an eye out for bison that look ready to charge. Shout loud so we know they are coming, if they come to save their brother. These are giants and they are strong, but they also use that strength to plough through snow and bodies; keep the others safe with your warnings. If either of them wanted to use their teeth against the herd and help drive them back, they could do that as well.

A welcoming smile, then Kaluktuk chuffs to the group, hoping they each understand their role and these tactics. They would separate now to begin their work!

Mountainwoman licked her fang with an eager grin, nodding at her leader for the time being. Aye, she chuffed back, scanning the herd for signs of quarry that would interrupt the hunt. It'd been long since she cornered prey strong enough to put up a fight, but her orders were to keep her eye on the horizon, to keep the mingled packscent safe. So she would, as best she could. The rake across her muzzle hadn't been from cowardice. 

She stood on the side of the group, tasting the air for signs of bison on the offense. Head level, eyes steady. Unshakable. Beasties' ain't gonna get none o'cha, she muttered to herself.

There was little time for meet and greets. Names had been tossed into the air for the purposes of organization. The group leader, Kaluktuk, got cracking on assigning roles and divvying up each wolf's part in the strategy.

It was not a reflection of Kaluktuk himself, but Kyrell cast an wary eye to their group makeup. Many were young but some wore fresher faces than others. The dusty gray boy and the honey yellow girl in particular. Raiyuk and Bronte if he heard correctly. A sliver of concern nestled in his mind.

Silently, he reminded himself to be mindful. Surely their packs wouldn't have allowed them join if they weren't ready.

His eye then turned to the latecomer assigned as spotter, a determined expression to her face. She would have their backs, and she wasn't the only one. He could focus on himself first.

And so he would.

Kyrell bumped his shoulder into Boone's before briefly calling to Raiyuk and the woman, Raelle. Let's do a good job of it, yeah?

He paused in case they had a response for him before beginning a steady lope towards the bachelor herd. An itch in his paws urged him to go faster, yet he refrained. His heart quickened in their stead. A drum in his chest that was sounded in his ears.

Making an arc around the herd's side away from the cracked horn specimen, Kyrell watched the herd sidelong. First keeping distant to gauge their reaction. He watched for lifting heads, formation of a defensive wall, wild-eyed stares, the dropping of weaponized skulls in his direction. Any and all of it. The bulls had been busy testing their meddle against each other, and now he would see it first hand.

Then he slowed, turned, and began pacing towards the divide between the injured bull and his herd. He did not invade it yet. Glancing about for the positions of the other hunters. Ears piqued for Kaluktuk's signal. For that, he would wait before advancing.

ice mother would never have believed her telling of this hunt, of these people, of the enormous beasts and many teeth. sulukinak could scarcely believe it all herself; relegated to a group of hunters unwittingly, a booming man looking to each of them and made commands.

it was loud, busy, and frightening. this ordeal shocked her, this girl that walked with her mother and brothers; to go from a place of great silence and reaching cold, of the everdark, to this.

away they went. bodies splitting apart to seek the beasts; sulukinak swift on her feet and silent always, but her speed tapering the closer she got to the herd. the beasts were larger than anything she had ever hunted before!

at the last moment she paled, slowed, and watched those hunters speed along the plain away from her - and then she was frozen. there wasn't yet enough loyalty within sulukinak to make her commit to this. neither was there any error in her mind for turning and racing the other way, back to the camps.

When she heard her name called, Bronte turned without hesitating. The wolves were being split into smaller, separate groups. Here, on these snow laden plains, they would hunt today. If they were successful, their reward would possibly be the greatest feast of the season.

But the young Blackthorn was intimidated. Uncertain. She had hunted larger game before and knew the basics for a safe and successful kill. Deer and Elk were one thing. The heaving, brown behemoths with their curved horns were another completely. 

She had never seen the likes of them before. Certainly not back home at the Caldera. As she gathered with the few other wolves under a gnarly, twisted tree, she considered the wolves she had been paired with. Aside from one other pale fawn boy that looked around her age (@Raiyuk), the others seemed to be older than her. She knew nothing about any of them and she could only hope that they would work well as a team.

Luckily, the scarred silver man, Kaluktuk, seemed wise and experienced. A wolf that knew what he was doing. She listened to his instructions closely. Relieved to be paired with Boone, who was gigantic in stature. Their job was to drive the young bull away from his brethren. 

Despite her nerves, she did her best not to show her apprehension (but perhaps failing miserably). Instead she just nodded, ready to test herself in a serious hunt. Bronte would not let her own hint of doubt interfere with the success of their task today.

Falling in beside @Boone, she began to head forward, slowly at first, to give the Kaluktuk and his partners the time they needed to begin pushing the herd away. She glanced at the Hearthwood man, hope in her eye that he would have her back. She needed to trust him.

He was eager to get started. Wolves were being parceled out to groups along the plains, with Raiyuk called to be here among younger hunters; and while he felt confident in himself for all he had learned from his father, he was glad to be partnered with others. The man at the helm of their party, Kaluktuk, gave out positions and got them organized, and Raiyuk began to move in to position.

He nodded to the two others that hunted with him. Their job would be to worry the herd, to drive them back. He had never seen such large creatures and while awed, he knew to be wary of their hooves. The young man gave a look to a few others in the party, as their job was to help protect him from those weighty, angry beasts. It was not hard to trust others; Raiyuk knew that he would be alright, and that they would succeed.

The wolf Kyrell called out to them and Raiyuk gave a yip of agreement, shaking off his nerves as he plunged in to a run. All that was left was to wait for the signal. In the corner of his eye he saw movement, and turned to see one of their hunters already retreating! A scowl overcame his face as he refocused on their job; now was not the time to be divided.

All seemed well. The group split in to their jobs and the first trio began to move in to position, with the extra bodies moving in to place to help keep the herd from assailing them. Kaluktuk moved to be alongside Boone and Bronte, and at first the girl was in the lead but the two men overtook her position as they went ahead and prepared.

Ready! Kaluktuk called out; the boom of his voice carried in such a way that even the children watching might hear him. His voice was thunder, and the herd reacted with shuffling steps and grunts, eyeing the number of wolves. Now!

His bellow loosed the first wave of their hunters towards the herd. He did not notice the lack of one body until then, when he looked around and counted heads, and saw Raelle, Raiyuk, and Kyrell weaving towards the bison; there was Meylodi ready to protect them from one end, and there should have been another body on the other end of the hunter's line. There was not.

The man bristled and made note of this.

To Boone he says, We are down a body. I will go instead. Loud enough for his two partners to hear, be careful! And he was off at a charge for the missing end of their hunting line, snapping his teeth at the bison and snarling at them, so that the three younger hunters could do their work.

She was a fool. Forbidden from hunting bison, she snuck away from the group. It wasn't easy, but she went unnoticed as she tiptoed through the grass and joined the nearest hunting party. Astera spied Raelle, but she seemed too occupied in the leader's instructions to pay her any mind. The pale wolf stuck to the borders of the group.

There were so many wolves. There were so many packs, and all came together to hunt. The bison were massive. A clever canine would be cautious, but the reckless teen thought she could hunt them all.

The hunt was on. The target is an injured bull. She wasn't given any role, so the pale girl decided on one. They had one less member, and the pale wolf, who appeared to be the leader of this operation, abandoned his post to fill in the vacancy. Astera took a gamble. She sprinted a white bullet across a plain of gold, letting herself overtake the bison. Oh, how it felt to run, almost fly.

Slowing down, she took the grey wolf's vacant spot. She bit. Astera had never hunted land animals, only fish and creatures of the tide and sand. Releasing all her pent-up energy into her bite, Astera latched on to the bovine. Through thick pelt, blood coursed into her mouth. This was a new feeling, and she embraced it.

Forced to let go, she kept a pace at the biovine's side, accelerating once she felt ready.

Stepping with precise movements, she bristled her fur to make an already sizable frame even larger.

But there were two problems. One, the other dark she-wolf that should've been there was not, and the pale man was in her place. Unusual, but fine, whatever - the man was there. 

Two, a pale ambitious pup had decided to charge their target, without order to. A quick glance and a sniff told her that this one wasn't her own (and a sigh of relief that Raen was actually doing what she was told for once). But her eyes had to be everywhere on her side of the party, and was quickly drawn away from barking that the girl was doing something incredibly dangerous by a bison who saw and wanted to help its brother. 

Meylodi snarled at it.

Aye, w'atcha lookin' at-? she asked the massive creature as if it could answer.

At first, everything appeared to be going smoothly. Bronte had overshot her position a little and had gotten slightly ahead. Quickly, she slowed her trot, allowing herself to fall back alongside Boone. Just as their Hunt Lead gave the order to charge, she found herself ready.

And noticed something else. A dark coated female assigned to their group, running away in the opposite direction. Just as swiftly, the corner of her eye caught the pale shape of a younger wolf who had not been invited. She was reckless too, charging at the bison without order or direction.

In annoyance, she sneezed once, then shook it off. Her lip curled to expose one fully grow canine tooth. Bronte may be a rookie, but even she knew better than that. After Boone had begun to hone in on the broken antlered bull, she followed. The flame like line along her spine atop sunshine fur bristled in a bright, puffed ball of hackles.

Irritably, their target was the same animal Astera was attacking. Following her older partner's cues, she charged and snapped doggedly at the haunches of the bison. Never making contact for fear of a glancing blow from a hoof. Close enough to try and spook him, to press him away from his brethren, while the uninvited bit and chased.

The order had been sounded and the other hunters fell into position. Well, almost all of the other hunters.

While Raelle and Raiyuk were also charged with harrying the herd, he could hear the discontented yelling behind them. Kaluktuk bellowed about a missing body and in Kyrell's peripheral vision a distant shadow was retreating. A flash of heat coursed through his body. A growing temper to boil his already excited blood. Hackles lifted, Kyrell refocused. The desertion needed to be the least of his concerns.

He was already in the thick of it. Having charged into the divide between their target and the main body of the herd. A loud snarl erupted from his throat as he lunged at the bulls. Feinting attacks, his teeth clicked the air. Sidestepping as horned heads were swung his way. He moved to and fro to keep the gap from being reclaimed.

He kept an eye for Raell and Raiyuk as he moved. The last thing he needed was to accidently lead a swing into them. He now caught sight of a new figure. Another youngster that latched onto the injured bull with reckless abandon. With a frustrated shake of his head, he moved to fall into step with the others at the forefront. Hoping a unified front of teeth would unnerve the herd.

If they missed a body or gained one, Raiyuk was unbothered. He was focused on the task set before them all: alongside Kyrell and Raelle, he snapped at the bison that turned their eye upon their brethren, or snarled when they tried to go to them. He ran among the bodies as quickly as he could to keep from being caught by a hoof or a horn, applying pressure as needed. It was a touch overwhelming to be among so many large bodies; Raiyuk had only ever hunted the seaside or the seals, and this was a far cry from what he had ever experienced.

He rounded upon a pair of bulls who seemed more agitated with the approaching wolves than before, and when a white streak came forward and began to throttle their target, Raiyuk was distracted. He did not know if this was part of the plan; how quickly were they meant to assail this one-horned bull? He saw Kaluktuk next, working one end of the hunter's line opposite Meylodi, and was further confused.

One of the beasts took notice of the young hunter's indecision and chose to thrust itself forward from the group, in to his path. The boy felt something clip his haunch and he buckled instinctively against the pain, but the force sent him out and away from the hunter's line, in to a surprised heap; it was lucky that the blow might bruise, and that nothing had broken the skin, but the pain of it and the sudden drop of Raiyuk in to the grass exacerbated the panic in the rest of the herd that witnessed it.

After a few seconds Raiyuk got back to his feet, but it was clear he was struggling to stand properly and favored his weight on three other legs, keeping it from the bludgeoned hip.

Try as he might to keep his composure during the fiasco of a hunt, Kaluktuk saw much going wrong and a growing danger to the hunting party. He was most invested when he saw one of the younger hunters - the boy Raiyuk - get shoved out of range by another of the herd, and ran close to snap at the offending creature. Then he whipped his attention between the herd and the bison with the cracked horn, who by now had been separated by a considerable margin.

He shouted a command as he ran after it, Let's go! Everyone, to the bull!

With so many eager wolves targeting the one bison, it would promptly become clear to the herd that they need not intervene. Some would watch as the wolves ran after the singular creature; others might snort or bray, or threaten retaliation to passing bodies, but all knew the law of prey and predator. They collectively pulled away from the hunters and began to charge to safety, leaving their brethren to fate.

Kaluktuk sought the fallen boy who, by now, was on his feet. He checked him quickly for grievous injury and saw no crookedness, no blood, and then together Kaluktuk and Raiyuk ran to the target. Snapping at heels, cutting at haunches and ribs, all to bleed it of strength.

The herd had fled. With their resignation, Kaluktuk commanded them to converge on the injured beast.

Kyrell turned from the main body of the herd, keeping a wary eye over his shoulder for any retaliatory strikes by the bulls. Once a safe distance away, he caught sight of Raiyuk rallying to Kaluktuk's side. The pair had pulled in line with Boone, Bronte, and the reckless sea-child. Their teeth scoring their quarry.

Kyrell picked up his pace and moved to assist. Targeting the bull's limbs and flanks. Latching on with his teeth as long as he could and planting his feet against the ground. He would have the beast move his weight as well as its own as it ran.

This had not gone at all as planned. Worry chewed at her, but she mustn't waver now. Kaluktuk's command pulled the hunting party together, to close in on the bull for the take down. Best to finish this quickly, and hopefully with no more injuries. The sooner the bison was dead, the better. 

Teeth snapping, blazing hackles raised, she closed the gap. It's comrades had abandoned him, leaving him to fate. With the others, she followed suit. Scoring flesh of meaty haunches. Ripping, clamping down deep. Falling back, dodging. Rinse and repeat, to bring a swift end.

She ignored the anger and frustration of the other party members, running again to sink her teeth into the animal. She rejoined the onslaught, ripping and tearing. She spat out the chunk of fur in the mouth, then once again picked up speed. Astera latched onto the bison's leg, but couldn't hold on for long. She tumbled into the grass, hitting here snout with a thud. The pain was momentary, and she once again resumed the chase.