Ankyra Sound burning, falling down so many times before

PACKTIVITY - no post order, free for all, total chaos thread. PROVE UR METTLE or die or fight or whatever UR CHOICE.

the cat -- the very same one flushed by the storm -- had found residence in the grotto.

out came caiaphas from the black mouth of the cistern's entrance, shrieking like some beheaded harpy -- for she had been walking along in the cavern when the full scent of catamount-turned-housecat hit her. her hair raised along the back of her neck as she had seen the black shape, hunkered down -- listening to the skitter of pebbles as it moved.

she ran, hollering as she went -- until at last she exploded from the grotto, and turned round to face its dark throat. the cougar had not pursued her -- likely as not it had been just as startled as she, and had prowled deeper into the grotto's heart.

There was a caterwauling from within the cavern that even the beachcomber could hear, for it hit the walls and came echoing out with a great amplification. Firefly may have been injured, but in those fleeting moments of sublime reaction, he didn't feel even a slight twinge in his bad leg when he bolted from the sandy shore towards the cave.

As he reached the entryway, he noticed the smoke-faced matriarch racing in the opposite direction. She skid and spun, her yellowed gaze narrowed and directed towards the cave where she had been lurking, but nothing came out. Firefly came up beside her and opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on — but in doing so, he breathed in the scent that dominated the airway, and his blood ran cold.

The scent reminded him of something, but he had no word for it. Couldn't quite focus. It made him think of his dreams of late, those that plagued him in sleep and those that distracted him while he was awake — the blood, the screaming, the — What the fuck is it? He curtailed his thoughts by shooting the question at Caiaphas, as if directing his fear-turned-rage towards her with his abrasive tone.

Luckily for the dark pelted girl, Raleska had been sleeping outside of the Grotto, and so woke with a shudder as her mother's outraged shrieks reached her ears. She instantly feared the worst; her throat and sides suddenly stung as if the ghosts of her old wounds had been woken, perhaps stroked into existence by the ephemeral memory of Drageda wolves grappling for her flesh.

Drageda's army did not meet her on the shore; in their place, her mother stood -- with Firefly tense and visibly as confused as Raleska. A chill breeze rifled through her fur as she sleepily padded next to her mother, and on that wafting wind she recognized a scent that caused her hair to stand on end.

She knew that scent, having very nearly been savaged by a catamount on the Plateau.. Her eyes widened and she looked from Firefly to her mother, meeting her dam's frenzied gaze with a quiet horror.

caiaphas' shriek rose, and erzulie started from fitful slumber, the hair along her shoulders rising in a quivering spike. it was not long before she joined the three, and at the tail end of firefly's hiss, answered, "cougar." moving to flank the seawitch, erzulie held her ground, scenting the air for any hint of the sharp musk that spoke cat.

Grezig heard Caiaphas’ shrieks and came running quickly. As she neared, the scent of multiple wolves nearly drowned out the cat smell, but she heard Erzulie say the word. Cougar. Fuck. She glanced around at their number. She knew there were more wolves in the pack, as well, so she wasn’t too worried. Still, a cougar could kill a wolf. They’d need to be careful, whatever they were going to do. She stood still and waited for some kind of order to be given, or for more members to show up. Her muscles were tense and she stood tall and alert.

caiaphas' gaze rested on the grotto as her crew assembled before her. they were now five strong, and for as large as hellcats were, they were not invincible -- and she had harried them with lesser numbers. remembering niamh (and half wishing the wolf was here now) caiaphas steeled her resolve and looked to her packmates.

erzulie had already explained what the foreboding scent was. with a grim set to her features, caiaphas followed: "five is more than enough. we must chase it out." she gave each of them a chance to speak their piece -- but the cold determination in her gaze spoke well of her conviction there could be no other solution.

More bodies arrived, in time with his frenzied question, but one quip from Erzulie gave him a word to describe that scent. Cougar -- he didn't recognize the sound of it, but that was likely due to finding it hard to focus. The scent was overwhelming to him. It lacked the tinge of blood but his memory more than made up for that — and Firefly was stuck there, standing and staring and spacing-out, hanging back as the others moved in. He wanted to help; he wanted to fight off this invader and protect his new family, but it was as if he'd turned to stone while flashes of his memory played out over, and over, and over, until he sank down upon the sand. Not cowering, but not being of use either. He could smell blood — there was blood everywhere — blood and shrieking, he could hear it so why couldn't they?

Savagery at it’s fullest rang high against the strong walls of the caverns. The abyss held the echo, only to throw it back at the wolves twicefold the vehement vex of lupine against feline - and Loki watched it all, his smug smile threatening to blossom into a maniacal grin. But all of this glorious passion was hidden behind the chimera’s mask. Instead, urgency laced the facade with a swollen voice to follow. His howl rose up upon the crests of the coasts carved walls, calling for any who might have lost the fury below to the waves or crashes of wake against ruined monalith peaks. He called for the rest of the Rusalkans who would ‘aid’ this terrible battle, while beneath the frantic mask, his plan was to send them too, to a carnivorous doom. 

‘Flock, sheep,’ he sang in the glamoured harbor of his morbid mind. ‘Come to greet thine shepherd.’

It was then he recalled - he couldn’t let Caiaphas he harmed in this assembly. Should she fall, another whelp, more than likely much more moronic, would take her place. It was growing too hard to beguile idiots, as he only knew to play chess with those who knew how to play. No barbarian should be given free reign of the game!

So with a seething conclusion, the lithe trickster brought himself down, scaling down rockied paths and skidding down one after another until eventually he could halt where the commotions proximity scraped across bleeding ears. The Prince of Lies looked between the horde whom had already gathered for slaughter . Four others and the witch herself. Well, and now apparently him. 

But despite him being present, he had already planned his moves - 

he wouldnt be getting his his hands dirty lest it were to drag the dead bodies of his ‘packmates’ away. Throwing a keen emerald gaze to the acids of Caiaphas’ he had caught the very last of her plan as it had left her inked lips. 

Saying nothing, he silently agreed with the plan as he waited for the others the pull the first move. Being so lithe, he tossed his excuse into a martyr front, and sent it her way.  “Once the beast breaks free, I will chase it off and note it’s final hideaway- unless we end it right here.“

caiaphas spoke, and the thoroughly striking man who had joined them followed with his own words. erzulie let her eyes linger upon the male a moment before they darted to raleska, then firefly. concern narrowed her gaze, and she lowered her muzzle to brush against his shoulder encouragingly. lastly, to the handsome woman grezig, who by dint of her sex erzulie found more appealing to look upon than even the confident male.
"i will stay wit' you, caiaphas," she murmured. it was not as if she was needed, but pairs to drive away the beast would be more useful than running in all directions at it.

more collected at the base of the grotto's entry. caiaphas swept her gaze over each and nodded.

she was unaware of firefly's plight, for loki's arrival distracted her. with a grim nod of her head she boldly made for the mouth. "it was in the cavern - we will take the north entrance, and flush it out. stick together, and stay low." she cautioned as she dipped her head under the grotto's shadow, slithering within.

the cavern was a ways down, and caiaphas kept her steps light as they descended. soon the tunnel spilled into a great opening -- the cavern, so named for its cavernous length -- spanning some several hundred feet across, with a tall ceiling well out of any bear's reach.

she hunkered down behind a column of flowstone, where she heard the cat's claws raking -- some fifty feet away, it was pawing through once of their caches, oblivious to their approach.

she glanced to those that had followed her, and once they were all assembled she gave the go-ahead to attack.

silent, yet no less dangerous, the siren threw herself at hellcat hide, teeth aimed for the hock to overcome it with surprise.

Feel free to skip me if I hold this up!

One by one, and with Caiaphas in the lead, the wolves moved towards the cavern and then plunged in to its depths. Firefly meant to be there beside his leader, to protect her from harm as he had sworn to do, but he found himself trailing behind the rest of them with sluggish steps and the thundering heart of a foolish boy gripped by fear. He was silent as he fought the demons of his rising anxiety, the flashes of memory that tainted his mind only growing worse - like some kind of curse - until he was left standing in the entryway alone, staring in to the abyss.

Also feel free to skip me.

Grezig followed Caiaphas into the cave even though she hated caves. Somehow, the Door at the Plateau had been different. She hated this cave. Probably it was the ocean she really hated. It didn’t matter what she hated now, though, because they needed to get this cat the hell outta here no matter where it was. Caiaphas led the attack, and Grezig was right behind her, throwing herself at the cat with angry snarl, aiming for wherever she could first sink her teeth.

she followed the priestess into the cavern, bristling somewhat. a glance over her shoulder told the woman that firefly did not follow, and for the first time she wondered if his scarring had been caused by a cat itself. not for long could erzulie wonder at it, however, for the pack was attacking the crouched form of the thieving feline, and her teeth snapped for its shoulder.

since big kitty is a NPC, i PP'd it -- but feel free to PP it too, doing whatever!

as the reinforcements piled up behind her, caiaphas froze -- for the hulking monstrosity above uncoiled from the shadows, and in a swift bound had closed the distance between where it had crouched, and where she stood.

just like that, she was bowled over -- a clean scythe of claws earning her a new triad of scars racing down her shoulder. the blackened silhouette shrieked as it threw the siren to the ground, advancing then for the exit and clawing at any that came its way.

Raleska felt her adrenaline pumping as she watched the Rusalkan wolves determinedly file into the Grotto after her mother, their forms swallowed into the blackness as if they marched into a giant maw. Steeling the fear that threatened to overcome her (and determinedly reminding herself of how she had faltered with Eurycrates) Raleska found a sliver of courage and marched resolutely after them.

It was black and dark in the Grotto, and as they went one by one down the cavern, Raleska's fear converted into primal protectiveness - her home was being invaded, and standing among the faces of her packmates, she felt her spirits bolstered.

She nearly walked right into her mother's backside as they hit the Cavern -- there was little light, most of it shed from the luminous pool in the center of the cavern. As she looked up, her heart leapt to her throat, for before them stood the towering figure of the cat.

She was aware of a flash of the cat's demonic eyes, and then it sprung upon them. Her mother was flung aside with a shriek, and Raleska screamed as she watched her mother get struck down. She tried to rush to Caiaphas's side, only to feel a sudden lightlessness as she too was flung into the air in a spectacular swipe. She saw the cavern, the wolves below her, her mother, even the swiftly retreating backside of the cat, all as she cartwheeled through the air.. and then she landed, her head struck against the stone, and all went black.

He waited impatiently for the rest of the suicidal dogs to come out, but all he heard were screams of the big cat and pummeling sickening sounds, bones against rock, bodies being flung. Gods be damned should Caiaphas be one of the killed- the hows only grew, the screams and shrieks only heightened in pitch! Irritation flew over his handsome two-tones features, as he sternly told himself not to go investigate. This was what he wanted- there was more than just Caiaphas in there. She should certainly be fine. 

But sometimes women had a habit of letting their emotions and pride cloud their judgement; the wraith could have easily flung herself directly at the cat. Impossible though, he reasoned, she was a battlescarred woman, wily in the ways of battle, so it seemed. This should have been nothing new to her...
So maybe she was fine.

Gritting his ivories together, he kept himself planted, awaying the big cat to arrive so he could find a safe harbor for it to nurse and return eventually. Or 'chase it off' rather.

in a whirlwind, the cat had wounded caiaphas and lashed raleska to the ground. teeth bared, erzulie dodged the first two of its blows, before the sword of its anger pierced her shoulder through. yet she kept her ground, snapping fangs into its musky hide to hold it while the others came forth to finish. 
the scent of blood rose in the air, choking her.

caiaphas's fur was matted with fresh blood, and her eyes ringed with new fury, but still she persisted. alongside the caramel-furred erzulie, the two tormented and pestered the cat, drawing it further and further towards the entrance. whether they killed it or simply chased it off mattered little to caiaphas -- she knew cats well enough that they often did not revisit haunts in which they were forced out of, for their livelihood depended on their body's health, and they had no pack to fall back upon if they were heavily wounded.

knowing this, the siren hotly followed after ezulie and the cat which dragged her -- raleska's form was only minutely registered as it was flung aside, for in the heat of battle, all caiaphas saw was the cat in front of her slowly making its escape.

Tag for reference

The cat swiped angrily at Grezig and managed to snag her muzzle just a bit. It was nothing more than a flesh wound and only stung a little, but it forced Grezig to back up to avoid more claws, and this is when she saw Caiaphas flung backwards. An image of Kavik flung backwards by a bear flashed before her eyes and she released a guttural sound of distress. She took a step towards her alpha and then another body flew through the air. She followed its flight and realized it was a young one. Grezig glanced over at Caiaphas again and then made a snap decision to go to @Raleska instead. Caiaphas was tough and could take care of herself. Grezig would not let a pup die on her watch. She made her way over to the pup and planted her body protectively over Raleska’s, watching the cat as it was led towards the entrance of the cave.

alongside caiaphas, her blows and snarls reverberated inside the grotto, and soon the cat was driven from the sea-caves. it crouched, baring its teeth at them, but the nightglow showed plainly the wounds rent in its hide. the harlot paused, wondering if the witch would will them to give pursuit, or decide they had fought enough for one night. it was unlikely the feline would return for a second bludgeoning.

no pursuit was given, though caiaphas was still in the heat of the moment, and only just now noticed grezig had turned to tend her daughter. another notch, in caiaphas' book, that she had a failure of a child: perhaps she was doomed to bear a rotten egg, and raleska was the fruit of it -- either way, she barely afforded raleska a glance as she turned pantingly to erzulie.

"fuck that guy," she said, a bloodthirsty smile on her lips -- the adrenaline would wear off eventually, but for now the siren was in rare good spirits.

Much of the commotion was unheard and unseen by Raleska, who at the moment, was out cold. Think "Last call" style, that final and unerring way a bartender would flip the bar's lights to OFF - done, out, empty, black.

When she came to Grezig was standing protectively over her, but to Raleska the woman was only a blurry shape. Her head hurt something fierce, and she felt sickly. Scrunching her nose, Raleska winced away from the bright light of the Grotto's entrance, which stared down at her like the glinting scope of a sniper. "Yugh," She muttered, reaching instinctively for Grezig but failing.

tacking on a conclusion <3

away went the hellcat, followed by rusalka's fiercest. it quickly shrugged off its canine competitors once it had reached the borders, leaving its pursuers to turn back to the grotto with triumph etched in their high-flagged tails and loose grins.

for some it was not all victory and games: caiaphas would see to it that those that got injured were tended to, but for now she stepped with pride in her gait, knowing that the wolves of rusalka had her back...

and she had theirs.