Hoshor Plains Bison Hunt 1 [Hephs group]

Not very creative name I Know, but it will have to work for now. I will be doing about 4 threads if I Miss anyone or you came in late, please let me know and I will add you into a group. Now these were thrown at me from a random generator so here we go.

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 and @Heph he lifted his voice out and spoke strongly. I will be picking wolves from each packs, but will the following please join me up here, for they will lead the hunts. I will lead a group, Heph will lead a group, Kaluktuk and Njord. These will be your hunting leaders in this regard.

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

Please Join @Heph. @Arrluk from Moonglow, @Valiant from Moonsong, @Raindrop, @Phox from moontide, @Mireille from @Sapphique and Matteo also from moontide.

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 Heph choose what she would do.

This will be his only post in this thread.

there were too many men here in the plains.
this was not a thought consciously entertained by mireille; it was a prejudice nurtured by rosalyn and erzulie which now hued her observations of how many males wandered to and fro.
and how few of them found sapphique as a home.
she missed val fiercely, mireille found. she had been reluctant to let the daughters of sapphique go off with those unknown, but knew @Maleah would not let them from her sight either.
and so off she went, sparing an appreciative look for heph and the slim young woman with pretty eyes. the males were regarded impassively; she flicked her tail but remained silent, not quite approachable but with clear respect for rodyn and heph alike as organizers of the hunt.

A sunken pit had opened up directly inside Matteo's stomach at Rodyn's call. It was time.

He was all a jitters as his name was called and Raiyuk's was not - crestfallen to not be placed in the same group as his lodge brother. It wouldn't be the same without him. Though he respected Heph, her presence as hunt leader did little to dampen the flutter of his stomach as he steeled himself and moved to join the others.

The scent of other moon villages hung heavy on the pelt of a few, in particular a bicoloured boy who appeared to be around his age. Offering a wave of his tail, he moved to stand awkwardly beside him while he awaited Heph's decision.

Heph returned Rodyn's smile, steeling her own nerves and forcing herself to focus. Many wolves had gathered to hunt this prey but it would be no less formidable. She did not want to let down the wolves who had journeyed all this way with high hopes for the hunt nor her own leader who had placed his trust in her. Returning Mireille's look with light eyes and a smile which spread across her face upturning her lips first and then revealing her teeth and readiness for the hunt, glad to have the other wolf there.

Matteo had gone to stand by Arrluk and she gave him an encouraging smile and a wag of her tail, she could sense his nerves and took note of them. Hesitation could prove dangerous on the hunt and she wished she had been able to speak to him earlier, to assuage his worries. He had grown much since coming to Moontide, already having to had face more of the world with Twin Isles falling and she trusted in his strength. Arrluk it seemed had returned from his journey with confidence and quietude, a young man already.

The slight wolf beside Valiant caught her eye and she offered a nod and a friendly gentle smile, Raindrop Rodyn had called her. She was not sure how she would hunt, size did not make a hunter for speed and nimbleness counted too, but the wolf looked as if she had gone between meals for a time. Valiant she had seen hunt before and knew that he was a strong and capable hunter.

When her gaze turned to Phox, glad that Rodyn had chosen to have him beside her, for all that he had the experience to direct a group of his own, she gave a smile, a blink that shifted for a split second into a grimace, her nervousness showing. When he had come to aid Moontide she had had a chance to see him hunt, to see him track, and knew that though his age and missing limbs meant he might not match the speed of some of the younger wolves his presence would be a boon for their hunt. With Rodyn and Aiolos in Moontide and Moonglow she had not had much occasion to lead hunts, and it had been a long while since she had hunted bison. But they had tracked the herds and she had scouted the land, felt she knew its dips and rises and flat lands and the rivers and tributaries that ran through it. She trusted in the skill of the wolves assembled, and as always her heart yearned and strained to rise to every challenge set before her so her tail wagged as she turned to address the wolves gathered.

Her voice was clear, a hint of her excitement shining through in the bright bark. "We'll follow the herd, and then divide. I have hunted alongside many of you and know you are skilled, swift, and strong. We must take care to guard ourselves from this prey but it doesn't stand a chance against us." She set out, trusting the others to follow her as she skirted around the edges and eventually came to stop along a rare patch of high ground a ways away from the other hunting groups for competing ambushes would be in danger of crushing both hunting parties between.

There she picked out the prey from those Phox had tracked and Rodyn had spotted and mentioned. "To the southwest, the one with the aging pelt and the limp." The season had not been kind to the creature, though not fully lame she walked with discernable pain along her back left leg, and though her eyes had not gone cloudy and her pelt not ragged there was a dull sheen to it and flecks of age that spoke of many seasons traveling the plains. But with a young and uncertain hunter and an older wolf she chose the certainty of their speed over the reduced danger of one with a horn broken or some other impediment to its defenses. She would take the time to point it out or allow the others to fix their gaze upon the old bison before speaking again, this time of strategy. "First we will all work together to cut her from the herd. Phox, Matteo, and Raindrop when she begins to separate stay between her and the herd make sure she cannot go back and keep the others away. Matteo and Raindrop take up the front and Phox behind them, keep your eye on the herd and on her, call out a warning if any come too close to us." She would trust in Matteo's youth and strength and Raindrop's swiftness to drive away the panicked bison, and Phox's keen eyes to pick apart the movement so fthe herd and give them warning.

Now turning to Mireille and Arrluk she spoke. "Mireille and Arrluk you will be our strikers. Follow her closely and attack her flanks and her back leg, only when you see an opportunity for the killing blow approach her neck." She hoped between Mireille's experience and slight size and Arrluk's youth and large frame they would be able to avoid the strikes of the bison and bring it down. Her eyes blazed with confidence a decisive nod of her head. And then to Valiant a wide grin, almost a baring of teeth. "Valiant, you and I will bait her out. We stay at the front when she runs and if she stalls. We'll create opportunities to strike and be ready to help whoever calls. It's a dangerous enough job already so don't go taking unnecessary risks." They would be poised to shift the bison's attention should one of the striker's call out, but not needed to go in for the kill if Phox, Matteo, or Raindrop needed help.

"If anyone wishes to swap roles or ask questions we can do so now. Once the hunt starts we will have to adapt so trust your instincts and remember to call out so we can work with you. If there is nothing else we will go on my mark." She spoke firmly but not unkindly leaving room for anyone to speak who wished or needed to add something. While she had assigned the roles based on the chances she had to observe them, excepting Raindrop, she did not know all of them well.

I ended up rolling for it but here's the plan: Arrluk lands the killing blow
2 rounds of hunting posts (everyone can post say hello/swap roles/get ready for the chase) and then Heph will post to start the hunt that will be round 1, then last round of hunting posts, and then if anyone wants to get a last post in celebrating/eating/hauling the catch back to their pack's camp then we can free for all it at that point
for this thread everyone here is free to powerplay Heph (minus death/major injury) to help with the continuity :D

He was glad to hunt beside Heph, whose face and strength he already knew. It was the two young males that made him most cautious — but Heph separated them into their roles, and he felt a little better knowing what they would each be doing. Then it was only Phox who he was a little puzzled over. If he was not included out of pity, he must surely have some tricks that Valiant wanted to learn.

"I'm ready," said Valiant, feeling as if he could taste the bison already. He hadn't had bison since he was a boy under his family's care — something about this hunt made him feel closer to those that he'd lost, even though most of the faces around him were strangers.

Perhaps that would not be true for very long.

Phox was relieved to be called into a smaller group after the large gathering. He had a feeling Rodyn had intentionally placed him with Heph, which he certainly didn't mind. All of the others names were strangers aside from Kukutux, who he was pretty sure he'd met at least a time or two before. She was the one who had more or less set him up with Heph. He wondered how that conversation had gone down. Would she be pleased to see her matchmaking skills were a success?

He was oblivious to the angry side-eye he received from the Sapphique woman, too focused on Heph, who quickly doled out their roles for the hunt. He was placed with another Moontide wolf who he'd yet to meet alongside a wolf named Raindrop. He was eager to get started, muscles already twitching with excitement.

The time had come. After her time to relax and take in the new sights had been over, she was ready. Ready for this moment. She had left Valiant’s side, as she had been assigned to the group of Phox and Matteo. Her swiftness would come in handy, as she was to help keep the gap between the old bison and the herd open. She nodded at the orders given, and kept quiet for the most part. She hoped that she could come up to scratch, as she hadn’t hunted in a long while.

She stood among her group, and glanced at the two new men, and back to Valiant. She didn’t feel overly nervous, but the feeling of being part of a group was somewhat new to her, being along for such a long time.

But know was not the time to think too much. It was time to act, to show off her skill. Now, she awaited for the command to move out.

heph gave detailed but concise instructions. mireille's gaze wandered until she found and pinpointed their target. her expression was much the same for the boy, arrluk. he seemed hale enough; she would have to trust that he did not slow her.
mireille did not turn her attention toward the other wolves. she was not here to know them, she was present to represent sapphique in the hunt and to bring home blood and flesh for her seafaring family.
to prepare for the soft burning which already begun in the women around the camps — in the obsidian.
and when heph signalled, she would run, a flat-muscled elegant race that carried her out and openly.

With everyone set and ready to go, and the chances of their prey noticing them only increasing Heph let out an excited growl and dashed forward, pulling ahead and working to get out in front. The bison began moving, a moment of suspension where everything seemed distant and still, and then a flurry of activity. She headed to the spot between their target and the herd, and the rest began to circle around their young, but some of them ran, their prey among them.

The flurry of movement and there were so many bodies to keep track of, the hunters and the hunted large swathes of coarse brown fur and hair and even the largest of wolves looked small in comparison. She surged forward snapping at the elderly cow with her lame leg in the face, but though the rest of the herd had separated the one in front refused to give up the fight. She flung her head wildly, the whites of her eyes showing in the face of the wolf focusing on the black-grey-white she-wolf in front of her for the moment it took her to fling her head, the old cow doing her best to keep the rest of the hunters in sight as she ran.

Heph gave out a muffled shout as the hard skull of the bison connected with her shoulder and she tumbled to the side, struggling to catch up once more to the hunt feeling a dull ache deep in her muscles and a sharp pain blooming across her skin but adrenaline poured into her veins allowing her to ignore the pain as she bolted forward.

Arrluk rushed forward, on swift graceful paws and once the bison was cut from the herd he surged forward landing a bit of his own her her good back leg, darting out of the way before she could retaliate by kicking out at him and once more staying on her flanks where it was harder to spot him and also harder to strike.

round 1 starts here feel free to go in any order!
powerplaying Arrluk
also if you'd like to roll/want inspiration feel free to use this thread

Matteo was ready at Heph's beck and call, sprinting behind in a fluid stream of black and white at her signal. It was a relief to have Phox on his side. Though he did not know him personally, he trusted in the man's experience should he and Raindrop require it.

Skirting the wings, he became the party's eyes and ears as the others began to separate the old cow from the rest of the herd. The noise of their bellows rolled like stormclouds above the thunder of their hooves and he worked swiftly to snap at the heels of any that tried to stray, tail bannered and teeth bared. 

A cry from behind and his stomach plummeted, that was - "HEPH!" He screeched, wheeling around frantically, but alas he could not catch sight of her among the crowd of bodies. In a moment of lost focus, he failed to notice an erratic young bull breaking from the herd until horn connected with hip with the sickening sound of tearing flesh. White hot pain bloomed from the area of contact, and it was only by miracle of adrenaline that Matteo was able to see through the haze at the ungulate that threatened his packmates. 

Whale-eyed, he barked a warning to the rest of the vanguard as jaws gnashed in uncharacteristic fury, lunging for the panicked beast who quickly reared and fled back to the herd. There was no more margin for error or hesitation now - he could only pray Heph was okay.

The time is near, so near it's stirring the blood in their veins — Raindrop was ready to go at the call to arms, she made haste, weaving in between the herd and the ol’ bison cow. Her job was to keep the two apart, and she would do this to the best of her ability. Things had begun to move, and fast, she would need her senses alert and on point, her ears swiveling to catch the sounds of her fellow hunters and the bellowing and thunder of the bison. Her eyes, darting from wolf to bison, always keeping the cow and herd in her line of sight. A couple stragglers didn’t stand a chance, with a snarl and biting they quickly shied away, retreating back to the safety of the herd.

But then something happened, a cry. She whipped around just in time to catch Heph regain her stance after being knocked for a loop. But Raindrop quickly brought her focus back to her task.

As the old cow gained more distance between herself and the herd, Raindrop called out to the other hunters, letting them know that a chance to strike was coming soon.

This was a different way of hunting than what Valiant was used to. He supposed it was because of how different their prey was from his usual fare. There was hardly any reason to bait deer, after all. Without knowing how difficult or dangerous his position might be, he felt a thread of trepidation working through him — but he was as ready as he would ever be, and fell into line when the time came.

They moved in concert, albeit one with more pluck than tune. Valiant found it easy to stay ahead of the bison, but with the others worrying at her hocks, he had to work hard to keep her attention. He and Heph did all that they could to give their companions the opportunity to land safe strikes on their prey — and Heph paid for it dearly.

Valiant faltered, half-turning as if he might spring toward his fallen comrade. Even if he hadn't thought better of it, the real and present threat posed by the angry bison kept him from reaching her. He redoubled his efforts to keep the cow's attention, calling out and feinting forward. All his attention focused on this task; he could no more have said what the others were doing than he could have recited the pledge of allegiance.

Hopefully, they would find opportunities to take her down soon.

rolled a five!

Phox felt the familiar flow of the hunt return to him, almost as soon as their chase began. He did his best to separate the herd, aiding both Matteo and Raindrop. Then, a lot happened all at once. Heph screamed, Matteo was practically speared through his hip, and Phox was suddenly caught in the crosshairs of two bison who had managed to corner him, instead of the other way around.

For a hot second, Phox thought that he was going to be the third victim of today's venture, but he barely managed to evade the two cows, slipping past them by the skin on his teeth. The rest of the hunting party had surged forward, leaving him in the dust. Fat lot of good he was doing for them.

When he finally caught up, he was relieved to see that Heph was at least still standing. Whatever injury she'd gotten wasn't immediately fatal. The worst of his fears put to the side, he resumed his focus on the task at hand: keeping the herd separate from their prey. Phox nipped at their hocks, dodging a hoof here, a horn there, and hoped that all this effort and injury would at least lead them to a good, hearty meal.

heph took a great blow almost immediately, and mireille had to force herself not to falter and fall back for the moontide woman.
but she had an intense role in this hunt. the young wolf arrluk was a swift runner, his teeth cutting holes in the heavy hide. mireille added her own, swerving as the bison bellowed and kicked out a hard hoof.
her attention was focused entire on the hunt, on the straining flesh and creak of the animal's jaw grinding in pain. 
not yet did she make any attempt to leap for throat or muzzle, keeping arrluk in her peripherals as blood continued to leak into her mouth from her steady strikes.

The hunt moved forward, the words of her comrades were distant and though she bent her ear towards them it was all noise porcessed faster than she could think it and she was surging forward. Raindrop and Matteo called out warnings and kept the hunters safe while Mireille, Arrluk, and Valiant were abreast of the beast. But there was one wolf - out of the corner of her eye she saw Phox's form almost disappear from sight behind two great moving beasts and she almost veered her path before he ducked back into sight. A growl and a bark from her breathless lungs too excited colors and lights moving past her at breakneck speeds, they needed to end it soon.

She stumbled, jostled by a young calf fleeing, already a heft size and she could feel her ribs groan but she managed to snap and snarl towards the hind legs of the old cow darting out of the way. The cow stuttered, beset on all sides as she gave out a great bellow. Heph felt herself flagging her muscles beginning to scream over the rush of adrenaline and she knew that she would not be able to keep apace of the hunt much longer.

The cow moved suddenly spurred by the movements of the hunters around her, and Arrluk saw an opening in her stride, cutting forward and latching on to her throat a soft place and a tearing and she crashed to the ground flailing and kicking but downed.

last hunting round!

rolled a one this time. :)

Phox kept his head low and his eyes on the herd that he was meant to keep separate while the others did their half of the work. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a few break free from the group he was keeping separate, and called to his huntmates to take over for him. Thankfully somebody stepped in, and he was able to push the stragglers away from the hunters and back in with the main group. Crisis averted, once again.

When he heard the telltale thump of the cow falling to the ground, Phox scattered the rest of the herd, letting them break away and do as they pleased. Now it was time to eat!

the boy downed the quarry; mireille was beside him, tearing and ripping, holding the animal in place as it flailed its last.
as the other beasts ran off with loud cries, the red obsidian found heph and surged toward the moontide leader, meaning to support heph and murmur words of praise for her leadership.
the wolves gathered. she would eat her fill when the chaos had ended.