Northstar Vale It's over, Anakin! This high ground adds +5 to my agility.

Tuathal had encountered very few packs that left his interest as piqued as the one he stumbled on here. All he wanted was to cross the mountains and see if the land on the other side could bring him any closer to the phantoms he chased. Instead, he crested the eastern face to find himself facing this: a sanctuary of sprawling grass, misty lakes and lush, verdant forests, hidden from the eyes of ground-level surveyors by the tall mountain walls surrounding them. Pack scent lifted soft but present from the ground, and he found himself at an impasse. Seek passage through, or take the long way around?

His feet decided for him before his mind could catch up. With careful steps, he inched his way down the steep incline until he found more level ground, and began to beat an arduous path around. Would anyone run to intercept? Even with numbers, he had the upper ground, unless these wolves worked like a mountain goat, and they could scale the rocks in a single upward bound. Tuathal figured he would deal with that if the time came. For now he focused on trying not to careen off the cliff-face, and to keep outside of the heavier scent which marked the parameters between claimed and neutral land.

While this whole pregnancy thing did have its drawbacks, one of its perks (at least, during the first trimester) was the extra adrenaline it had to offer. This was of great use to Queenie; the mercenary used the now bountiful supply to keep herself perky and ready for whatever decided to show up next. Of course, it would have been more convenient if that whatever was a lone coyote or fox, but another wolf did just as well. 

The scent was immediately discernable from the rest; there was something off about it that quickly caught Queenie’s attention. Turning to @Delight, she gave a nod toward the scent’s source and began to head off at a trot, tail and hackles raised.

oh man just let him catch a break. queenie's not in any state to be instigating fights and yeah she's not darting off teeth blazing but he knows her, does not trust her to not pick one just because she can. he follows behind her, squinting ahead to see the stranger doing... whatever the hell he's doing.

"oi!" delight calls, letting queenie handle the "intimidating display of force" thing. "what do you think you're doing?"

Wide paths narrowed until he found himself at an impasse, perched in the middle of a lengthy stretch of a tight, eroding cleft, when his foot slips. He feels his heart shoot straight to his throat even as the danger passes and he finds his balance again. But his attention is elsewhere, on a spray of pebbles that tinkers down the rocks and disappears and already his mind is churning - that was almost him. Bad decision. Bad, bad, stupid decision. The mountainside cups his body in a claustrophobic hug, and the sheer drop to his right dizzies him until he's forced to shut his eyes. Okay Tuathal. Get a grip. Breathe in breathe out. Maybe going the long way isn't so bad after all. Maybe you could try to shimmy back while simultaneously reconsidering all your terrible choices in life, with this right now being the pinnacle -

But oh, a voice. And wouldn't this just be all his Blackthorn luck, that just as he begins to try and figure out his own solitary rescue mission, the pack wolves find him.

"Well I thought I knew," he manages to mumble, though his voice cracks and he tries to shift backward, only to cause more stones to tumble. Shoot. Okay, stand still. You're stuck on the side of a fishbowl - a crumbling, impassable ledge before you, not much more behind, and from the sounds of it, at least two angry wolves approaching below. It could be worse. It could be worse. It definitely couldn't be worse. "I swear it's not what it looks like. I just want to get to the other side."