Sun Mote Copse Yuve yuve yu.

Boot camp thread for @Avery, @Bronco, @Maia and/or anyone else who wants in on it! :)

An urgent call of nature woke Towhee just after dawn. After relieving herself, she considered going back to sleep. But she realized she felt refreshed, so she stretched limbs stiff with cold and then roamed toward the borders. She performed a quick and uneventful patrol, then began wending back toward the rendezvous site for breakfast.

But the sight of a feral pig halted the Regent in her tracks. She stared at the ugly creature, which looked like a mutant deer but smelled of something else altogether. Her nostrils flared as she drank in the stink. She had seen creatures like this one a time or two before, typically with tusks. She didn't see any on this particular specimen, though she flexed her paws warily in the cold loam underfoot.

The rooting beast took notice of her and startled visibly. Towhee idly wondered if it made any sounds of alarm. She lifted her lip, baring her teeth. But attempting to hunt or even chase away prey of this size on her own would be risky, so the mercenary sent up a few yips, summoning whoever was awake and nearby. She partially expected the critter to run for it at the sound, though instead it caught her off guard by charging toward her.

Maia was close by, and when Towhee yipped, she only hesitated a moment. It was hard to tell for her, being somewhat unused to the Regent's manner of speaking, but it sounded like she was requesting help.  Wraen's words echoed in her mind and she (albeit reluctantly) started running that way.

It was a.... pig?  Maia skidded to a stop as the thing eyed them both.  She hadn't bothered to be stealthy in her approach.  Forgetting that Towhee was deaf, she opened with a what the heck is that doing here? but didn't bother to check if the other wolf was even paying attention to her.

Since I’ve been slower than molasses lately, if I’m ever holding this thread up too long please feel free to PP/skip Avery! <3 (But I’ll try to keep up!)

Even before Towhee sent up the alarm, Avery had spotted the pig from a distance. She had been staring with her mouth open for some time, marveling at its homeliness and wondering if it would taste as ugly as it looked. Her gaze shifted as her sister sidled into view, then called for backup — and she gasped audibly when the beast suddenly charged toward Towhee.

Oh crap! she shouted as Maia approached. She wasn’t sure what to do as the pig beelined toward the other two she-wolves, but a split second of thought gave her only one idea: she screamed shrilly, hoping to at least distract the animal from its forward motion.

Video of wolves hunting wild boar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ByX5w-_CSo - for inspiration and tactics. :)

Wraen heard Towhee's call and came from a different direction than her sister and Avery. She had little time to assess the situation and the moment the feral pig charged for her Regent, she went for it's haunch, landing a nip there and hopefully distracting the brave attacker and buy them some time.

At this point in the story it would have been great, if Wraen could have given a "Form Star of Death!" command and then the scene would progress the same way it did in "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", where Bennett sisters killed a bunch of zombies, while dressed in gowns. 

But she was a wolf, had no weapons (or silk dress for that matter) and her appraoch was more practical. "Disperse around it!" she commanded the three. "Aim for the snout or ears to pin it, nip at it to wear it down!" she told and would not be a hunter herself, if she did not do as she had told others to do. 

Take number two - tail-grab for good luck.

Towhee was marginally aware of three silver blurs coming to her aid, though 99.9% of her attention remained fixed on the charging pig. She wasn't a master mercenary for nothing, and though this beast was technically prey, this was more of a fight than a hunt. Her muscles coiled with tension even as she stood her ground, waiting until the last second before intending to dodge out of its way. Neither hog nor wolf seemed to hear the others' screams.

When that critical moment came when Towhee prepared to feint, then leap in the other direction, Wraen's teeth found the pig's hide. Although this did serve its purpose by distracting the pig, it caused it to pivot wildly, swinging its head defensively as it did so. Rather than springing clear, Towhee's last second feint put her right in the hog's path. She took a direct butt to the space right behind her ribs, the unexpected force of it flinging her sideways and knocking the wind out of her.

It hurt like a bitch, though Towhee didn't stay down when she landed. Grimacing, she climbed back onto all fours and steadied herself, sides billowing as she caught her breath. She hadn't heard the Sovereign's command, of course, though she was a natural-born killer and followed instructions instinctively. Lips skinning back from her teeth, she waited until the hog was distracted by the other three wolves before launching herself at its face.

Y'all are welcome to play the hog too!

Oh, she was slow on the uptake, wasn't she?  While she asked what it was, Wraen and another wolf swarmed in to stop it from charging Towhee.  Unfortunately it still got a hit in, but by that point, Maia was a little all over the place.

Oh jeeze, bite, yeah.  That'd help.

She wasn't as quick as the other wolves she was fighting with, but she was big.  So when she took a nip at the thing, she also shoved her weight into it, attempting to off balance it.

It was sturdier than it looked.  Felt a bit like shoving her shoulder against a rock.  She stumbled, but her bite and the ruckus made the hog at least turn her way with an angry squeal.

Her distraction didn’t seem to work in the least, so thank goodness there were others there to leap into action. Wraen’s shouted directions reached Avery’s ears as though they had come from a distance, and it took her a second to process them before her instincts kicked into gear. A lot happened in a short amount of time as Wraen and Maia lunged at the pig just after it managed to headbutt Towhee in the ribs.

She didn’t want to get in the way of her more experienced companions, but dared to veer close enough to the animal to nip at its legs as it turned from Towhee and towards the others. Her sister took that opportunity to direct an attack towards it face, and even as Avery dodged its flailing hooves, she suspected that its life wouldn’t last much longer under their assault.

Wraen got hold of the tail, but it is not easy to keep it for long, if your mouth is full of hair and triggers gagging reflex. Soon after the animal had hit Towhee and was attempting to trample the two other wolves, who had chosen to aim at it's feet, Wraen quickly sought for another good spot to aid her companions in taking the animal down.

While pigs had less mobility than deer or hares did, it did not mean that it was any less dangerous. It's hide was very thick, neck was short and therefore jugular was not easy to access. It had mass and it could be freakishly strong and fast, if you were not careful. With all that in mind and seeing that Towhee had recovered and was attacking the boar's face, she launched herself at the muscular hindquarters grabbed one of them and pulled backwards.

For fun, I'm going to do a roll. Evens = pig fights, odds = pig flees.

Roll: 89

The hog flung its head sideways at the last possible instant, baring its neck to Towhee as it presumably tried to bite at one of the others. The Regent couldn't possibly decipher her comrades' actions or even their specific locations right at the moment, so she did what she could do and sank her teeth into that exposed, leathery flesh. Almost immediately, this triggered the pig to swing its head back in her direction, though the tightness of the angle meant that it couldn't grasp her easily. It did bite her though: she felt its teeth sink painfully into the meat of her upper leg.

Snarling as she switched into defensive mode, Towhee quit worrying the pig's bloodied neck and let go, turning her teeth toward its face again even as its own teeth—not as sharp but still very powerful—continued digging into her muscle. She slashed its cheek but did not hold, whipping her head back and forth as she tried to inflict as much damage as quickly as possible, forcing the hog to release its bite so the two of them were able to spring apart.

Towhee could see the others dogging the wild pig from all sides even as the creature attempted to bolt, probably hoping to shake off the wolves as it beat a hasty retreat.

rolled a 4 so fail.  gonna also use this to excuse her taking a bit to take off on her journey!

The pig was keen on making a break for it, but Maia was keen on eating.  Until now she'd mostly been using her body to block, but now she aimed to snag a mouthful of the hog's shoulder and grip tight, hoping to injure it enough to break it's stride.

Instead, she pushed forward to meet it just as it pulled free from Towhee.  Her muzzle met the hard-packed muscle much quicker (and with a lot more force) than she anticipated, and she stumbled, tripping over her own paws and crashing to the ground in a stunned heap.

Her muzzle smarted with eye watering heat, and she used both paws to cover it, feeling along the length tenderly.  Youch!

With four wolves working from all angles, it didn’t seem that the pig stood much of a chance — but it appeared to be determined to make a break for it anyway. Within the fray, it managed to land a bite on Towhee and then smashed into Maia’s face; the latter backed off quickly and fell. Avery took this as a cue to peel away from her position and check on her comrade.

Are you okay? she asked, tearing her gaze away from the boar long enough to peer down at what she could see of Maia’s face from beneath her paws.

Dealing with a wild boar was no easy feat, especially since it's anatomy was so unhandy to tackle in the first place. Thick, robust neck, which meant that the windpipe was well protected. Thick skin and fat layer to cushion any attacks. Sharp hooves and basically a barreling mass of body. 

What had seemed an easy thing to take down for four grown-up wolves, quickly changed into a one-on-one showdown, when Towhee, Maia and Avery quit the game. Wraen let go of her hold and the pig bolted for the hills. There was a bit of regret in her eyes, when she watched it go, but decided that with the help of a different group of wolves, she will be able to track the injured animal down.

Now she needed to tend the more immediate business. Towhee and Maia - both looked bad, but which one was worse? "Should I go and call for Eljay or are you going to survive?" she asked, regarding both of her comrades with a worried gaze.

With a wince and a hiss, Towhee pushed back onto all fours even as the pig bulldozed through the three remaining wolves and vanished into the distance. She couldn't decide how to feel about this outcome. She wasn't sure she'd called them here to kill the hog for its meat or simply fend it away from their homeland. The Regent supposed she should reserve judgment until she checked on her comrades.

Wraen and Avery appeared ambulatory and unhurt, though the same couldn't be said for Maia. Bleeding freely from the bite wound to her own leg, Towhee hobbled over to the prone she-wolf, shooting her sister a questioning look. She caught the latter half of the Sovereign's sentence and shook her head, though only for herself. Perhaps Maia did need medical intervention. All Towhee needed was to lick her wounds clean and rest.

"We should make sure it left the territory..." the said a little helplessly, unable to give pursuit herself. Wraen would need to tend to Maia and she wasn't going to send little Avery after the hog. Towhee shook her head, simply hoping it made its way out of the copse without doing any further damage to its residents. "I'm gonna," she added in the next breath, gesturing toward a nearby oak before limping over to it and slumping at its base.

She set about cleaning her contusions, though there was nothing much she could do about the bruising underneath. The pain eventually forced her to sit back and take it easy against the tree's solid trunk, though at least she'd managed to lick away most of the blood. Towhee sighed, attention wandering to the other three for a moment. She then let her head fall back against the rough bark as she closed her eyes, deciding she was just glad to be rid of the hideous beast. It probably would've tasted like ass anyway.

I think this'll be my last! :)

Oh god that stung.  She'd whacked her muzzle good and wondered for a bit if she'd broken something in her poor nose.  But no.... it faded to a smarting, and she uncovered and sat up with a wince.

No, I'm fine, I'm fine. she said, the words coming out a little congested but reassuring.  Ow though.  What are those made of, rock?  No wonder it shook us off like nothin.  

She was disappointed, but that was nothing new.  Maia was adequate enough hunting alone, but big game in groups wasn't exactly her strong suit.  She usually managed to mess something up.

Standing, she took stock.  Her leg was a little sore too from where she'd fallen... not enough to affect movement too much, but enough that she might not want to go too far until the discomfort was gone.  Ugh.  

Towhee seemed to have gotten the worst out of the encounter, but insisted she was fine, which Maia totally wasn't going to argue with.  Look, Towhee kinda intimidated her.  A lot.  So she shook her head and gave her muzzle one last touch with her paw.  I'm gonna go find some water... sorry!

Without... really knowing why she apologized (maybe for the entire hunt just being a bit of a fail?) she cast a glance at Wraen to see if she would be coming, then headed towards the stream.