Fox's Glade [BWP P4 Prey Opportunity] choria

Phase 4 is live -- grab your large game here!

the wilds woke to the low bellow of one of the region's last remaining bucks, his horns ensnared fatally in the undercarriage of a low-hanging and twisted elm. after much struggling, the buck had done nothing to free himself. if anything, his thrashing only served to entrapt him further.

the rest of the herd had since left him to the wolves -- both literally and metaphorically.. and while still alive and kicking, it was evident he would meet his demise in the elm's embrace unless fate dictated otherwise.

The loud braying of the buck could be heard across the valley, being one of the only sounds within the vast emptiness of an otherwise unoccupied area; Ibis heard it clearly, dissonant and deep, as she was crossing through the area on the hunt for @Okeanos. Her plan was to return to the boggy sections in the north of the valley to check if the prey had resurfaced; it felt good to be away from the green forests and the frightening mountains, and she wasn't afraid of a little cold water after slogging through the overflowing lake days ago.

The creature, though, looked frightful in its own way. Ibis circled back to the glade thinking it might have been a fox — having never heard the strange sounds before, nor taken part in a hunt for something so large — and when she saw the crowned beast, listening to it, watching it thrash about where it stood ensnared, Ibis' hunger overwhelmed her. So did an innate feeling of need she hadn't felt before. A survivor's desperation that somehow, in that precise moment anyway, unlocked a deeply buried animal instinct within her.

She kept creeping closer to where the buck stood but dared not get too close to those hooves, seeking the easiest route through the glade so she could get a better look at the creature. Its suffering was evident enough — but for once the passive nymph did not care enough to be sympathetic, her eyes hungry, her body posture transformed to something primordial, the hunter inside awakened.

She stole through the underbrush, her instincts aroused by the haunted call of the elk. Nanook knew the meaning the deep bellow conveyed. Its fear was tangible, and she, she would release him from his anguish, and allow him a worthiness in his death as he would serve to replenish the family of Easthollow.

The elk moved with violent motion. Legs thrashed in terrific blows. One strike would send any wolf keeling, a risk she could not chance. Surely @Valette had heard, and would come soon - unless there was some other way...

Nanook rounded on him, and it was then her nostrils flared to catch the stranger's scent seconds before she spotted her. No recognition stirred; this other was a stranger, no part of Easthollow -- but perhaps, she could be a friend in the moment. The mercenary sought out the pale girl's eyes, with a question of camaraderie written through the slightest tip of her head and shared glance toward the elk and back again.

Would she ally for the slaughter, or would hunger drive this girl to covet the feast as hers and hers alone, to gorge and devour for her own selfish belly?

For LCH wolves just gonna do an optional tag for @Brouhaha and @Terance (unless you wanna bring Thief). But if anyone else from the pack wants to say they were hunting with Arbiter, I am ok with that assumption!

Given the fact that Arbiter was straying from the territory and her children were older, it was every bit possible, that the trio of youths and/or their father were nearby as well -- hunting larger prey required wandering farther from home after all.  There was only so much learned from rabbits and smaller things, the world needed a little bit of danger.  If they weren't?  Well, too bad for them, the day was gonna be interesting.

The sounds drew her before she was entirely clear what it was, but as she approached to investigate, it very quickly became clear that this would be a quite appetizing scene.  It was a little farther from the creek than she would have preferred to drag a kill home if it all went well, but given the fact there were another couple wolves there, that seemed unlikely to be entirely allowed.  Ibis and an Easthollow wolf.  She certainly didn't expect trouble from either of them (and let's be real, Arbiter was pretty sure she could take them both if for some bizarre reason they decided to stir something up).  

Confidence kept her level-headed, even if this was a chance too good to pass up or let fail.  Arbiter gave the other two sort of a querying look, but her focus shifted to the elk.  She moved closer but stayed out of the line of fire as she circled around it, licking her lips and quite obviously calculating what would be the best attack for this free food.  Perhaps it wouldn't be the best test after all for her pups -- this wasn't exactly the most common occurrence, but it seemed to amuse her.  More like a puzzle than a hunt, she mused, more to herself than anything.  How does one run prey to near-exhaustion when it can't run? Torment it for a few hours?  The fact that she'd dared to move closer than the other two drove the beast more wild.  A solution was starting to put itself together in her mind, the question was just who was what piece on the board...

Can be skipped as needed! He's just creepin in the bg

He headed south after his encounter with that addle-minded man by the river, not wanting to stick around in case that volcano nearby decided to spew even more lava upon the surrounding lands. The thinning prey up north also helped with his decision; Redshank assumed the herds and smaller animals had all fled to the mildly warmer territories towards the Flatlands.

He quickly discovered, however, that not only was food just as scarce, the land-shaking tremors also remained, uprooting trees and felling entire cliff faces. It seemed the entirety of the Wilds was in a state of disarray. Redshank pressed on though, as the all-too-familiar feeling of hunger began to gnaw at his stomach once more, certain he would come across something, however meagre.

His slouched form shot upright as he heard the lone call of the buck echo out from the glade. He was not so stupid as to think he could take one down by himself, but curiousity (and hunger) urged him to investigate. The Cairn silently followed where the call had come from, treading as lightly as he could as he made his way towards the scene before coming to a stop at a distance and crouching low behind a boulder. Others had already gathered. The two smaller wolves he did not recognise, but the third...

He withheld a sharp intake of breath as he breathed a curse. It was that bitch. It had been a long time since the incident, but Redshank had not forgotten her face. He still remembered being held down by her and that other bastard, his leg almost snapped in two by Rannoch's command. Hackles beginning to raise, he watched on warily, ready for an opportunity to present itself.

Hono did not know what to make of his current predicament. Had Ninetails finally sent a blessing towards the nomad or was she continuing to throw curveballs his way?

Surely it must have been the former. After days, no, weeks of being confined in the glade his wounds had finally healed. Finally he could leave this place behind and carry on with what he was sent out to do. It was what he had been praying for.

But of course leaving wouldn't be as easy as he'd hoped. Days had passed since he discovered he could walk properly again, yet the flame still remained. Something kept him glued to the spot. Fear of the unknown perhaps? A sense of emptiness? Well those two things contributed to some extent, but the main thing holding him back was guilt. He felt bad for taking up @Marten's time and supplies, especially during such dire times. Pay your dues. That phrase had been hammered into him since he was just a cub. Give back to others or face the wrath of Ninetails. Well, even if he had no knowledge of the divine beast he was likely to do so anyways.

That buck's bellow was a blessing. Ah yes, food! A perfect payment for the hospitality. Everyone needed it, now more than ever. Prey seemed to be dwindling these days. Hono quickly made his way towards it. He knew he wouldn't be able to take it down on his own, but perhaps he could lure it towards Marten's home and alert his clanmates of its presence.

His interest peaked when he caught wind of more wolves. First he saw a darker wolf sulking from behind. He didn't seem as willing to take down the buck as the other three, so Hono ultimately ignored him. The girl from the lake was here and two unfamiliar faces stood by. Well, one was completely unfamiliar. His eyes drifted towards the other. She carried Marten's scent. Would she recognize him? Surely not, unless the healer had spoken of him.

Indeed. He looked from one wolf to the other. Hono assumed—or rather hoped— they would work together to take down this beast, so he continued. How should we go about this?

Valette had been rather occupied with members dying, one of her children missing, and the idea that she might have to make the decision to leave easthollow behind because they lacked food. Valette however knew the call from an animal in distress. But it turned out that she was not the only one that had heard it. When she arrived on the scene she saw Arbiter, her sister and two strangers. Everyone seemed civil.

Valette jogged next to her sister. "Arbiter," she greeted. She nodded to the other two. She caught the question of the stranger and Valette looked at the entrapped animal. "Any part at the neck we can safely reach and suffocate it. The least it struggles the better otherwise it might be worse," she commented and looked at the scene if there was any piece of the neck they could reach. Otherwise they might have to start ripping pieces off it while it was alive... That would make the trashing worse, probably.

All of a sudden she was alone, and then she wasn't. First came the familiar scent of Easthollow and the sound of someone's heavy steps; Ibis did not want to remove her attention from the struggling animal for any length of time, but she dared a few glances at the oncoming shape, and was amazed by the gloss of their coat, their bulk, their sweet feminine scent. It was not a wolf she knew, but they shared a glance and seemed to come to terms, wordlessly. Some sort of unspoken agreement—although it was not to last.

Soon there were others coming upon the scene as swiftly as crows to a carcass. Ibis pulled back a few measures and gave herself a small window of time to observe the wolves as they made themselves known. It did not seem to matter how stealthy they were in the long run. Each additional body caused the trapped creature to struggle harder, breathe faster, writhing where it was standing tangled among the trees, and for a brief spell Ibis thought, 'How terribly sad, how frightening it must be to be that creature.' — even with her empathy flaring to life, Ibis knew it was a desperate situation with the land's current limitations and shortages, and that the creature would, most assuredly, be dying to feed the lot of them. It was sad but it was necessary, and so she put it out of her mind.

There came some voices on the wind, most of which she could not make out as anything more than dull noise; but she looked to the gathering faces: the dark marked cream body of her step-mother among them, the lithe and autumnal wolf that she had once thought to be a fox, some darker shapes she did not know — and still, the grey-clad woman beside her, lurking the closest, perhaps to stress the animal to death. Ibis looked to Nanook with a sadness in her eyes, wishing the animal a swift death whenever the wolves chose to launch themselves upon it.

For now she lingered, watching, waiting, uncertain of how to proceed.

Skipping Nanook since she's currently inactive.

She didn't see Redshank because her attention was drawn first to others who arrived and approached.  Probably good for him, because Arbiter wasn't the sort to forgive, let alone forget someone who had deserved to be shredded to tiny pieces in the past.  She could always make up for lost time, you see...

Anyway, the smallish orange guy who spoke first drew her gaze, suspicious.  He was not someone she'd deemed an ally -- even Ibis tentatively got that title despite the fact she'd left.  He was a stranger, and so if this all worked, she was certainly going to make sure that her own pack and Easthollow took more than he received.  They needed it more than loners, after all.  But then Valette arrived and joined the group too.  

Valette, she replied in kind, with a nod of her head.  So one wolf she could count on for sure, another that she probably could just by alliance, and then there was Ibis and that other guy who were both wildcards for different reasons.  The trees might protect those on the head side from its hooves.  Or perhaps press it down and let the trees help kill it.  Either way, antlers versus hooves.  She wasn't sure it was entirely narrow enough to really have the trees contribute more than they already were, but it was an alternate plan if the other were too spooked to get especially close. It appeared here that she was the muscle of the group so it didn't seem likely that they could just swarm it and shove it down as easily as it might have been with others.  She shifted around to the stag's face, stepping forward experimentally again as it tried to pull away.  There wasn't too much room there, but she could probably reach if it kept its head up, just not while it was so focused on her only.