Lost Creek Hollow the raided cache

Due to the weekly hunt die roll, we've struck an event!  This event is non-mandatory, so your participation is entirely optional but will count as a bonus to your character during the next rank shuffle. There's no posting order and the round will end Monday, December 21st or when it appears the majority have responded. ;)

Tagging: @Ancalagon @Andalusia @Flynn @Harlyn @Ilya @Luke @Misty @Mordecai @Numa @Root

Coincidentally, while the wolves of Lost Creek Hollow were out tracking and hunting an elusive winter herd of deer, a cache in the northwestern reaches of their claim found itself disturbed by an unknown assailant.  The frozen earth beneath the accumulation of snow was strewn about reckless and wild; the once well-kept and maintained cache holding a quarry of particular importance missing from its hold.  While most creatures are no doubt intelligent enough to bypass the claim of a wolf pack, this one happened to either be too arrogant to pay attention, or perhaps it was simply keen enough to notice that the wolves had left for a brief period to hunt one of their many ranges in and around the forest.

Assorted tracks of curious investigators linger the area, both canine and not and their collective thoughts are all the same — what will the wolves think?  And as the pack returns with the spoils of their latest and narrow victory, who will be the first to discover and alarm the others of the intrusion?  Had the bear they drove off come back to steal what it wanted?  Could it have been the cougar that had attacked their alpha male?  Or was it something more, or even supernatural?  The only thing left standing as the scene unfolds is the turn of events the wolves themselves would bring themselves to discover and believe.

post by mordecai.

hopefully I read this right... imma let Ilya discover it if discovery was in fact intended (:

The smallest Hollow wolf had been tracking along with the rest of the hunting party. She remained alert and focused to the hunt, but she couldn't help but become distracted as she scented something strange lingering around the area. She let out a low woof to alert the wolves, mostly those of higher rank, and then nosed away to show she'd found something she wished to investigate. She turned and sniffed out whatever the odd scent was. Strangely, it came from one of their caches, and Ilya let out an agitated chuff at the sight.

Their storage had been completely ransacked. Prey was missing and the fresh snow was no longer fresh, but dirtied and thrown all over the place. She could see wolf tracks, sure, but she had assumed those were only from their pack... Right? She shook her head and investigated further, discovering that she couldn't tell if there were tracks from another creature. They looked too strange to even be classified as paw prints; it looked like someone had come in and simply dragged their feet everywhere they walked. 

Stumped and angered by the scene, Ilya let out a low howl, indicating that something was wrong. She realized after she had howled that she may have scared the herd further away, but she didn't truly believe that they were close enough to be bothered by a lone wolf's call. The black female waited by the emptied cache with fur fluffed and eyes wary, looking around to make sure nothing was hiding among the shadows.

Misty's ears perked at Ilya's howl and she ran over, seeing the storage. Instinctively, she put her nose to the ground and slowly made her way around the area, breathing in the scents. "All of our scents are here....but there's one unfamiliar one. I can't make out exactly what kind of animal it is, but it's definitely not a wolf. How could one creature do all this damage on their own? Why would they challenge a pack of wolves by stealing from them?" she asked nervously, glancing at Ilya before putting her nose back down to the ground. Why would a creature challenge a pack? Why would they risk being hunted down and killed? How did they even know of this area? They must've been a scouter, like her, observing a target for days, even weeks before striking. This creature was smart, elusive, but that didn't mean they could get away with something like this. Misty wasn't going to let them. She was going to find the thing responsible for destroying all their hard work.

Something was wrong, the foreign scent he'd been following to one of the Hollow's caches — unknown to Lagon except for the fact that it was not wolven in it's origins — a fact enunciated by the low howl sent out by one of his packmates. It was not a voice he recognized — discounting Mordecai, Harlyn or Flynn as it's owner. Still, Lagon's pace increased to reach where the scent ended and two packmates — both female — were gathered. He sent a low chuff of greeting to them upon his slowed approach, caution keeping the svelte muscles beneath his sleek coat of smoky black taunt, mahogany red gaze touching each of them in turn before it focused upon the mess nearby.  

A shiver rippled along his hackles as they bristled, as he studiously inspected the damage wreaked upon their cache. The words of the lighter colored female did not fall upon deaf ears, for they had slicked back, to take in the words she exchanged, speaking a confirmation of the conclusion he'd came to himself: that it wasn't the work of a wolf ...or wolves. “Winter is desperation,” He added his voice, offering his own conclusion. That while it might have been a challenge, it could have also been an act of desperation. Either way, they would have to work to rebuild the cache they'd lost. “So the question is what do we do? We could try to hunt down the culprit and get back what it took but either way we'll probably have to hunt anew to make up the difference.” But it wasn't his call to make: one of their leaders would need to make that decision, more or less he was pondering out loud.

The girl deviated from the hunting party not long after they returned, wanting to take some time for herself in light of their recent victory.  He belly is full and what is left over, someone else returns to the cache, but Ilya’s call causes her to readjust her attention.  Instead of going about her business, Root pushes forward until she comes across the mess left behind.  Her eyes widened and heart sinks to the pit of her stomach, the hard work of the pack destroyed and pilfered through. 

Root doesn’t speak up, closing her eyes and telling herself to keep calm.  She wants to follow where it leads away from the cache but the scent breaks apart in different directions and she knows she wouldn’t be able to find it.  Root settles back on her haunches, looking between the other three wolves in the meantime.

I'm going to go ahead and continue so we don't miss the deadline. if anyone else wants to reply feel free to join in. (: ALSO pLS PLS PLS get creative I'm so excited for this thread but I wanna see everyone's ideas. (: anything goes, as far as I'm concerned !!! 

The black wolf was a bit dumbfounded, and let out a low growl of agitation. Not towards any of her packmates, but at the situation. She looked to Misty, a wolf who's company was not usually with Ilya. She was sure that Misty was a kind wolf, she'd only never spoken to her one on one. She nodded, vaguely, but was unsure. Was it really not a wolf? There were wolf prints around the cache... It made sense that they were their own but they couldn't rule it out. The other wolf, one that Ilya had never met before in her life, but he seemed to speak with confidence, so Ilya decided that he was alright in her eyes.

Finally, Root, the newest wolf she'd met, arrived. She said nothing, but sat and listened. She nodded to her as she approached before turning to her fellow packmates. Realizing she was the highest rank in the situation, she straightened her shoulders a bit, although was still thinking about the situation.

"You're sure it isn't a wolf?" the black female asked, her tail swishing behind her like a cat. "I don't smell any other animals," she replied, her ears perking as she continued to listen to the world around them. If the thief was still around, it would not have the apprehend. 

"We definitely need to hunt again..." she murmured, a bit upset that they would. She personally preferred fishing after Luke had so kindly taught her how, but fish couldn't feed a whole pack in the winter. "But track it down? I think we need to know what we're up against before we make any rash decisions. I've only noticed tracks and mud, why don't we search the area for any clues of what it was... And if anyone can identify the tracks that would solve a lot of problems." The small wolf felt big for a moment. Still small in body comparison, but being the leading voice while her alphas and Luke were absent... Well she felt almost as important as they were.

She saw Ilya's concern and padded over to the wolf prints, sniffing each of them. "Nope. All of them are ours, but with the one creature's scent overlapping some of ours. But....see how some of them have really longs claws coming out at weird angles? My guess is the creature was smart enough to step in our tracks, so we couldn't follow it. If you want, I can track it and probably find it's den or cave or whatever." she said, feeling a little more confident than usual.

i rambled, whoops.

He hadn't joined the hunt, though a part of him may have lusted after that more than it had a lot of things in his past. Instead Mordecai had been at rest and incidentally restless, frustrated initially that he would once again have to sit out something he considered one of his finer skills. Or at least, something that was once a finer skill of his; truth be told, he hadn't done much in the way of hunting since the cougar attack. He had snapped after birds, maybe once at an unaware goose that had gotten in his path. But it wasn't the same as tracking and bringing down some weary ungulate who's ticket needed punched. Still, when the howls of their victory had reached him, he had slowly unwound from the warmer confines that he chose to bed down in, and had made his way to the northern reaches of the territory to hopefully greet the return of the pack.

By the time he had reached the first few wolves, he found his estimation of from where they would arrive to be off. It was not a hard correction to make for him, drawn in by the tangible medley of their voices in the crisp air. The snowfall was a muffle to the ambient din and those voices carried, drawing him in and aiding him to make the assessment that not all of them were in the same place. That he merely attributed to them either lingering around a cache for what they had brought back (which he would seek out, later, unquestionably), or still trying to revive themselves from a much desired food coma.

Drawing in to the small group that had amassed at the cache, he found the mood there to be sobered up and much different from his anticipations. His brow furrowed as he closed in, unconsciously posturing himself. Mordecai's one-eyed gaze settled on Ilya with question, though he did not inquire as to what had happened. He knew this particular cache to be one of their older ones and more importantly, one that he had tended to several times. Whatever it had been in it was clearly gone and the upturned earth was a distinct beacon against the stark white smattering of snow and faded brush.

His steps came to stop as Misty's voice trailed off, and that gaze had wandered to her.

"But what is it?" he queried all of them, that same gaze opting to look over who he could. Something strong enough to upturn the cache, sure, but they could do that with a bit of effort. He considered the cougar, but discredited it because as far as he knew, none of them had picked up a trace of the feline. There was little to this that looked like it was anything but precise, and it prompted him to investigate closer. His nose hovered over the tracks closer to the torn earth, but all he could smell was the dampness of the loam, and the musty remains of whatever had been buried there long ago.

Hey all!  Round two begins now and ends the 28th!  No posting order still, and anyone who would like to join that hasn't yet, please feel free! 

Harlyn had been dozing after a good meal when Ilya's call had hit the wind.  It wasn't until her notes had come to an end that the druid realized the howl in her dreams was sounding in real life, and with a few bleary-eyed blinks, she grasped to the tendrils of her packmate's voice as they faded to drag her back to full wakefulness.  She drew herself onto all fours and set off, faintly recognizing that there had been concern in the tone that set her pace to as swift a canter as she could manage with her slowly growing belly.

She came upon them in due time, nodding to each and sharing a brief smile as she stepped to Mordecai's side.  She hadn't heard the comments of those that had arrived before her, but her nose and eyes were quick to bring her to the same conclusions: something had raided their caches, but it didn't seem like wolf.  It didn't smell of cougar either.  Discounting two of the creatures it could have been was at least a start.

"I wonder if our dear friend, the bear, came back for some revenge..." Harlyn murmured darkly, "I can't tell though, the scent is muddied to my senses.  I will admit though that my nose has never been great..."  She cast a gaze to her packmates, hoping for help.  She had never professed to be the greatest hunter, nor the best tracker.  Her skills lay elsewhere in the realm of usefulness, but she knew before her were plenty that could step up to the challenge.

His investigations were halted further when Harlyn turned up alongside of him — on his good side, at that — and brought him to bring his gaze to her. He reached out to nudge her fondly, teasing the courser hairs of her shoulder. It had been her he was interested in finding originally to know how the hunt had gone, but of course the world had its way of throwing a wrench into their plans. Beyond her as he gazed behind them both, he had anticipated seeing Luke, and found that the blue-nosed beta was nowhere in sight. That seemed unlike him, but that was as far as his thoughts went as they were funneled to attention by the lilt of his co-leader's voice.

He hadn't forgotten about the bear and for a moment, the wonder as to where it had gone soured him. Between it and the cougar, they had their share of some unfortunate events in a short time. But given those that had gathered here to investigate the ruined cache, it seemed to have bolstered their numbers and strength. "It's a possibility," he piped up, "a bear could have made easy work of this if they were hungry enough. And I don't think it would have loitered with as many of us are there are now." They had been in a sorely worse place when the bear thought it could have challenged them.

He gave the tracks around another once-over, nose lingering over them. "Maybe this happened during the night, too. There's more than one set of tracks through here, so I'd say it's had a few more visitors than just a bear." Wouldn't have been the first time either; they had their caches strewn about at least once before that he could recall. Smaller prey was notorious for it, weasels and carrion and the like. He snorted out a breath, clearing his senses, and rolled his shoulders in a shrug as his head raised again.

I think I'm gonna have Misty work on the Hunter trade, Tracker specialty. is it ok if I use this thread to work towards that since I've been using tracking skills throughout it?

Misty listened to what Mordecai and Harlyn said, and frankly, she disagreed with them. It wasn't a bear, it was smaller, and it was only one creature. She started at the cache and reenacted the events that had played out like she was the creature, retracing its steps. She stepped exactly in its tracks and followed the scent to the edge of the area. "It's one creature, smaller than a bear, but a little bigger than us." she said blankly, still tracing the scent. "It's tracks lead towards that mountain pass between us and the pack just north of here. I'm guessing that's where it went with the prey from our storage."

eeeep !! sorry for the screw up.

 

Ilya stepped back as Mordecai and Harlyn entered, curious of what they would think and say and curious of how they would take charge. Would they want to go find the attacker, as Misty seemed so intent on doing, or would they want to stay back?

Misty sniffed at the tracked, and the black wolf nodded as she confirmed it was only one wolf. "I don't think it's the bear," she woofed in response to Harlyn's theory. "The tracks look too small, if you ask me,"  and soon after Misty confirmed her statement. She listened, her ears flicking as she thought. She still didn't feel okay with seeking out the creature. If they couldn't even identify it, who knows what they were up against. She sniffed at the ground a bit, her mind muddied with thoughts and ideas. She couldn't help but look to her other packmates, what did they think?

Mordecai shows up, then Harlyn, and Root only listens as they explain and try to rationalize what might have happened.  No one seems to think a beer has done this—and she doubts it too—but she’s suddenly drawn back to the coyote she ran into when she’d first gotten to the pack.  He hadn’t stuck around for long, though, and while one of the others thinks it’s something bigger than they are, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.  Without a feline scent lingering, and conclusion it’s not the bear, she can’t think of anything else it might be. 

She tightens her jaw, grinding her teeth before she decides to finally speak up:  “I am across a coyote when I first got here.  Claimed he was apart of the pack.” Root feels a little unsure of herself, unable to detect the coyotes scent in the area.  It had been long enough that no one brought it up, only furthering conclude her suspicion that the coyote didn’t belong here and her guilt for chasing him out didn’t bother her anymore.  “He didn’t last long.”

@Misty — this thread would count, yes. :)

This round will end January 5th!

At the heels of his statement came Misty's voice, stating that it wasn't the bear. Mordecai wasn't sure how she could be so certain; there were numerous tracks on top of their own that suggested otherwise to him. But what captured his attention beyond that was her thought of where they led, and he gave her a sidelong glance with a minor turn of his head. Yet before he could comment on it, there was the chorus of others chiming in — Ilya, who felt the same was Misty, and Root, who mentioned a coyote.

"Well, I think we can outrule the coyote," he said as their voices quieted. With his gaze still resting on Misty, he returned to her statement. "How are you so certain it leads to the mountains? What is it?" That question had gone unanswered all along, though he pressed for more information — "Did you see it?" — though the possibility of it being seen seemed, well, unlikely. But it remained and his wariness lingered and their questions sought answers.

She shuffled a paw nervously. "No...but I have this thing where I kind of "see" scent trails. I can visualize where things went by where their scent trails lead. I don't really know how to explain it. I've just always been good at tracking." She didn't know how the Alpha would react, or if he would even believe her, and she didn't really feel that confident enough to make eye contact with any of the other pack members, so she just stood there quietly, keeping her eyes on the ground.

Uncertain what to think of Misty's explanation, Ilya only let her head cock to one side. She didn't think she was lying, or that she was crazy, she understood the feeling of just knowing something. The black wolf enjoyed priding herself on the decently accurate gut feelings that she had; she understood what the white wolf meant by just knowing. It was, however, unimaginable to be able to see scent trails, and the girl could not grasp the idea around her head. She was, however, not a tracker, so she couldn't quite understand anyway.

The thought was dropped from mind so it would not hurt the poor wolf's thinky-thinky too much, and she lowered her head to sniff at the tracks again. She picked up nothing new or important of information, she looked back up at the alpha pair and her pack mates, curious what would become of Misty's idea. 

She doesn’t expect it to be the coyote anymore than the others did but it is out there in case something weird shows up.  She won’t be the only one to notice it, she hopes, but she remains back and listening, studying the scene before them. A while wolf she doesn’t know the name of begins to speak up and Root turns her head to listen.  Her brows burrow between her gaze as she tries to picture it.  She considers asking her for tips on tracking but if she doesn’t know how to explain it, she doubts she would be much help.

Root turns back to Mordecai, curious for his input, but eager to head toward the mountain Misty talks about. 

Next round ends January 13th!

Harlyn was quiet as opinions were shared.  No one seemed to buy the bear idea, instead saying the tracks were too small.  But they were also larger than wolf prints, and it seemed unlikely to her that they were the tracks of any sort of feline.  What did that leave?  Harlyn had heard many stories in her years of rare creatures unlike any most had ever seen.  Beings that were there one moment and gone the next.  Things that were clever and devious, that would steal food from caches simply to lure larger, more satisfying prey to them...

She was a sensible woman, and of course didn't allow herself to conclude that it was any such preternatural creature.  There was likely an exceedingly average culprit behind this.  Be that as it may, it seemed to her that the energy spent trekking up a mountain to reclaim a pile of old meat would be far better put towards catching new prey.

"Well, whatever it was, it's gone and it took our food with it," Harlyn concluded finally, "I don't see any sense in trying to go after the beast, especially not knowing what it even is and thus not knowing how many we would need in order to take it down.  Our energy is better spent hunting new prey and building a new cache closer to the heart of the Hollow.  This one it seems is a bit too close to our borders to be safe from scavengers."  Her gaze drifted across the wolves gathered until landing on Mordecai.  It was not completely up to her how they responded, though she was prepared to advise further against any acts of bravado, which she was growing more and more convinced would be simply foolish.

Harlyn gave the proposal of what to do next and Root nods her head, finding it to be the most sensible. The thing wouldn’t attack twice when they would be on far more alert than before. Better measures would be taken to prevent this from happening again. Root would take extra measures to keep it safe. If she hadn’t been away on the hunt, perhaps she could have warded whatever it was off. The sinking feeling in her stomach makes her think otherwise, but she sets it aside, unable to let herself take such blame.

“By the waterfall might be the best place to store,” she tells them, wondering if they’d agree. “The water would help keep it cleaner and fresher,” she adds. The winter would keep it cold and from spoiling and the water in the summer would still be cool, she suspects, and keep it cooler and clean in the warmer months.

Again, no one could provide him with an idea of what they were looking at and as the question went unanswered, he felt a prickle of annoyance with his subordinates. They were so set that it wasn't one thing or another, but what was it? He couldn't have claimed to know every sort of predator there was, but of course he had also done his share to try and stay out of their line of sight as well. And that had worked up until recently and all the same, prompted him to keep his mouth his closed and his irritation bridled within.

So ultimately it fell to Harlyn to round them in and as she did so, he found himself agreeing with her. They couldn't spare the manpower to go off on a crusade to find out what it was and frankly, he didn't want to even inquire whether or not they could tend to any more injures were they to happen. It would have served them better to tend to their own home, not leave it open for the same thing to happen again. Root piped up with her own suggestions and his gaze came around to find her, pondering how things had fared in that quadrant of their territory.

"That may work, though I'd be more concerned how frozen the ground is, or isn't. It may also benefit us to hunt across the river downstream of the falls as well. There's been too much traffic through the north," and clearly, whatever had done this had been aware of their strategy to take on things out in the open range of the Downs. "But we need to step up our patrol of the borders as well, especially along wherever this thing came from. Make it clear we don't appreciate it, that we're aware it came by and it's not welcome back." And it pained him to some extent that he would not be able to utilize himself fully for such a task, but he was getting there.

Root offered the waterfall, and the ears of the black wolf perked. She thought the idea was quite good, and hadn't thought of it on her own. She nodded in agreement, looking towards Mordecai. He seemed to agree, but mentioned something about the ground. She looked to her paws in thought, unable to think of how they might be able to soften it. "If it's soft," she offered, "after we dug it out we could always pour water on it. It'll freeze over night and the cache will act as a cooler. I think that's a great idea. If it's too hard, I'm not sure how we'd manage to break the ground," her voice trailed as she lacked an idea to contribute, but she felt her first idea was rather innovative, if it wasn't an obvious option already.

She then shrugged. "How do we know what we're up against, though?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. "We obviously need to defend our territory from it, but we don't want injured wolves because our patrols weren't large enough to defend against it. I don't think we should go after it, but we need to figure out at least some sort of idea of what it is." She looked to the mangled paw prints. They were small, perhaps the creature wasn't so large... Perhaps there was really no reason to worry. But still, something in her was bothered, and she looked to her packmates to hear their ideas. 

Due to the tapering interest, this will be the final round.  This thread will be archived on January 21st, 2016.

That was a good question and one he didn't sense an answer to.  Who knew what exactly it was — the tracks around the cache had been sullied by not only their entrance, but the other creatures that had come to steal their fair share from the cache.  Mordecai felt they would have had a better sense for what it was if they were to go in search of it, but he also did not want to run the risk of finding out it was something vile and out for their blood when back into a corner.

"I'm sure we'd find more clues along the borders as to what it was," he suggested to Ilya, though he doubted he could make the journey wholly.  His shoulder still ached, even more so with the expenditures taken to bring himself to them on the return of their hunt.  "But it would do you, and us well to stay aware out there.  Take someone with you if you're worried about going alone," which honestly, didn't sound like a bad plan to him.  Pairs of eyes were always better than just one set anyway.

With that said, they all came to their own conclusions and dispersed within the territory.