Lost Creek Hollow i'll be the axe that clears a forest

Oh no, predator event! Our hunt roll this week is a success but it looks like we'll have to fend off our kill from a bear. ;P Don't feel obligated to match my length here either, felt like a bit of narrative would do us some good. This round will end on Friday, November 20th.

Tagging: @Harlyn @Luke @Ilya @Andalusia @Misty @Numa

For as small as the pack was, they had been lucky to snag a couple of prime deer along the outskirts of the territory. And they had made fine, quick work of it as far as Mordecai was concerned. With the rest of the herd regrouped somewhere beyond their line of sight, the wolves of the Hollow had made easy work of getting their fill. Even with winter about to bare down on them, the weather stayed mild and unseasonably warm. It had been drier than he had anticipated, but that had probably played a small part in whether or not they had been successful in the first place. It was always harder to hunt when ice or mud had coated the grounds.

Their bellies sated, he let them mill about for a scant few seconds before turning back towards the pair of does that had been their quarry. Now the task before them would be moving it to a cache and there were still plenty they could do with filling more of, no doubt others that needed to be cleared of old and rot as well. But he had no more grabbed a tattered leg to start pulling the doe further in to their territory when he spied the bear out in the open beyond the thinning of their forest.

Sauntering tall and broad, the old ursine had made its rounds across the valley. It had ransacked through what was left of the claim of Jade Fern Grove and now had seemingly been led by its nose towards the Hollow. Mordecai felt the all too familiar prickle of his hackles rising, his body tensing as he let go of the deer leg. Though it was at some distance from the wolves, it was clear that it was making its way toward them; Mordecai drew attention to it as his own jaws parted to snarl a warning.

In response, the bear called low and mockingly at the wolves.

murder by death — rumbrave

Ooo! Exciting (: Don't know if we're looking for this to go smoothly but I don't mind Ilya getting any scarring wounds! They'd add some character. (:

Coal might've seemed white compared to the small Florida wolf as she sat among the shadows. A bit of blood was splashed onto her muzzle and chest, and she felt a bit of pride welling from the packs kill. Ilya was reaching for the second deer, sinking her teeth into the warm body. She began to lift, but dropped it as soon as she felt something wrong. She hadn't scented or seen the bear until she sensed Mordecai's aggression, but fell behind him and in front of the fauna immediately. 

She didn't move after this, her gaze remained on the bear. Her alpha, however, was well within her peripheral vision and unless he made the signal to attack she wouldn't move a muscle more. Her eyes were narrowed, hackles risen and fur fluffed out. She was more fluffy, than she was intimidating, but under the fur her tensed muscles rippled with every breath she took. The fae was ready to defend, and wasn't afraid. She had dealt with bears in the past on her travels, and had fought them once or twice. If you asked her, she wouldn't lie, she'd never won the fights; it was illogical. A small wolf against a giant bear? The odds were impossible. But she always felt she put up a decent fight, and with a whole patrol alongside her she felt confident in their ability to defend their catch.

I wouldn't mind either if Misty gained some mortal wounds and ended up being confined to camp for a bit...no scars tho. don't want to destroy my beautiful bby.

Misty laid in the warm sun, dozing off her meal. She heard growling and smelled a scent that screamed danger. A bear. As a pup, she had run into bears enough times to know that you keep your distance and you should only engage them when absolutely necessary. And you should NEVER take them on alone, especially one as big as this. Her ears flattened and she seemed to shrink, backing up submissively behind Mordecai. "What are we going to do, Mordecai? There's a very big chance that even if we fight the bear, we'll lose the kill to it, causing us to reap greater damage to the pack overall than rewards. So what is the plan?"

He had been on his back, forepaws curled above him and tongue lolling as he relished in a full belly and the beauty of the day, surrounded by his packmates. But when Mordecai snarled, it was but a heartbeat before he was on his paws and taking a position at his alpha's shoulder. He soon saw the reason for Mordecai's alarm. He squared his shoulders toward the bear, the fur along his spine risen into sharp barbs, his ears thrust forward and his tail held horizontally. He awaited his leader's direction.

Harlyn too had been lazing about after stuffing her belly full of good meat with the rest of her family.  She was exhausted from the hunt and her now raging heat simply made her feel even more weary.  Still, she had pulled herself to her haunches when she saw Mordecai heading towards the kill, assuming he was going to start the task of dragging it back and burying it in a nearby cache.  It was not a fun job, but it was for that reason that she didn't want him to have to do it alone.

But no sooner had she gotten to her feet than the Ostrega had tensed and fear flashed through Harlyn's heart.  She moved forward with the rest, her eyes landing on the approaching bear as her hackles raised and a low growl rumbled through her chest.  The druid had a deep respect for all the creatures of the earth, but when it came to her family versus one of the lesser species (sprinkle in some crazy ass hormonal rage), Harlyn felt perfectly ready and willing rip it to pieces.

Fortunately, she had enough wits about her to not actually implement that truly terrible plan without her more level-headed co-alpha's approval.  And so she stood back with the rest, watching and waiting to see what the bear's next move would be.

Andalusia had taken to pacing some lengths from the others so as not to disturb their rest. She felt the usual buzz from the wear of the hunt, but her skin itched from the scent enwreathed about Harlyn's body. The dark one's heat mocked her, and if her time continued strong, then the Ostrega would consider donning the guise of an outrider until the bitter thistle around her heart withered to naught. Until then she stayed her distance, unwilling to draw near Harlyn while poison twisted within.

Only at the sudden shift did Andalusia draw near. Mordecai's growl drew her rapt attention, and before she even considered the threat, Andalusia had covered the ground between them. Only then did she flash a look to the horizon to assess the danger that approached. She tensed at the sight of the bear and mirrored the gesture of her family around, hackles tall and muscles piqued to meet the ursine's challenge. Andalusia put little stock in her physical strength, but counted herself quick and capable on her feet. She eyed Mordecai to await his instruction, and tried to ignore the swell of Harlyn's scent and the burn of throbbing envy in her ears.

Whoops, totally missed the deadline myself. Silly hectic Fridays. This round will end Wednesday, November 25th. Feel free to progress this along if you'd like, guys. :)

The bear balked for a fleeting second as the wolves formed a line in its path. Not a very straight line, but a proverbial wall of defense all the same. Its hesitation stemmed purely from seeing them respond — one wolf was a laughable offense, but a pack was something to take into consideration. Still, it was driven by the desire to get its fill from what they had fell and continued its direct march with leisure.

Mordecai found he was slightly amiss on how to take such a creature, though the majority had come to rally with him. While Misty slunk behind their line and placed out queries, his silent held as he ascertained what options they did have. He wasn't about to go rushing in on the bear and attack it, that wasn't worth the cost of life or limb. But he wasn't about to give up the effort and work they had put into the kill, they needed it.

"We'll have to try and prove our kill isn't worth its aggravation," he said, coming to a decision. There were no guarantees that they wouldn't take some damage from it, but then again there were just as few that said that they'd be successful. Though he wasn't entirely flighty, he set out to flank the hulking ursine as it drew near, trying to draw it away from both kill and territory.

Ilya listened to Mordecai, nodded and let out a huff. Not at the Alpha, by any means, but just in general with the situation. She couldn't believe that after all she wasn't completely safe with a pack, but to be fair that isn't why she joined in the first place. The last pack encounter she had she was technically safe, mostly because she was guarded, she realized now that she was the one guarding. She needed to help protect everyone in the pack and herself, and they each did the same thing. 

The black fae slunk back into the shadows that she was dragging the doe along, licking her chops in anticipation. She watched from the bushes, taking the time she was hidden to make sure she was both downwind and at an attacking advantage. She shifted according to the wind and the bear, but they luckily weren't too far off already. If Mordecai's attempt to lead the bear away wasn't successfully, Ilya knew that it would still come directly towards their food; which was something they needed to prevent. She planned on attacking only if it came down to it. Mostly due to Mordecai seeming to be against attacking the bear head on, which she agreed with completely.

Misty sighed. Why she always pushed into situations where she had to fight? It was something she detested doing and tried to avoid at any and all costs. Taking down prey was different, you were hunting, not fighting for your life. She hesitantly nodded at the Alpha's words and slunk around to the rear of the bear. She wanted to be in this pack, and if she was going to be a part of the pack, she needed to fight and protect it, just like everyone else who had to earn their place in the pack. Let's do this... and get this over with as quickly as possible. She wasn't going to be doing much fighting...her body wasn't built for that, but she would help as much as she could.

This round will end by Monday, November 30th.

As they fanned out, the bear was once again forced to stop and ascertain the largest of threats. Its gaze followed after Mordecai as he snaked past, aware of the close weave he made to avoid a clump of thin trees. He caught a glimpse of Ilya moving to pull the remains of their kill off, but it was the slender stark-white of Misty joining him out in the open that captured his attention the most. His own steps halted somewhere to the right of the bear, who had already picked up on Misty.

And it was there that the ursine found itself in a bit of a tangle, with the wolves spread close and afar, yet another proverbial wall between it and what it wanted. In its distraction, it did not entirely sense the approach of the alpha male as he darted in, crossing behind him to grab harshly at his flank. The bear roared with anger; it was no more than a passing glance blow and by the time it had turned, the wolf was gone and out of its reach, bounding off to make a slow turn to observe again.

Nosily, the bear drew its beady gaze to the others with keen awareness.

Luke offered a single nod of agreement; it was a basic instinct to seek reward for the less effort, and if the pack could show the bear that it stood to lose more than it gained, it was likely they would keep the remainder of their kill. Mordecai took to harassing it, and the blue-nosed wolf took his lead. While the pack alpha took one flank Luke maneuvered to the other, darting in to snap at flesh to encourage the bear's departure, and then skirting back to safety out of reach of the creature's claws.

The bear turned to look at them, still considering the situation. Luke clicked his teeth, issuing a snarl. There was no easy meal here. Move on.

The decision made to drive it off, the wolves of the Hollow spread out around the bear. Some went left, some went right. Some crept around behind. Harlyn stood still for a few moments before trailing steadily a few yards behind Mordecai. She bore a similarly warning and fierce posture as she approached, her teeth bared and snarls rumbling in her chest. Mordecai dashed forward to worrying the bear to take its attention away from Misty, and soon afterward, the Druid darted forward to its other side to snap at it and leap away again shortly, to pull its attention again now from Mordecai.

The alpha felt the force of a heavy paw swiping over her back as she bounded away to safety. It hadn't hit her, but still her heart pounded. She curved around once she was a few yards away to look back at the bear, preparing to rush forward again if the need arose.

Ilya felt her fur bristle as she continued with one of their kills. The other was left where it was, but she was too small to carry both deer at once. She could see the bear through the cracks in the underbrush, which meant it could probably see her as well. The black wolf prayed it didn't.

She tugged the deer along, her blue eyes watching as Mordecai and Harlyn both attacked the bear. She flinched, feeling a growl rumble in her throat. She choked it back, no reason to give herself away. If the bear did anything against her alphas though, she would have no problem abandoning the deer to defend her pack. Her fur remained raised, especially that along her spine. Her tail and ears remained now, and her pupils were narrowed to small dots. She was preparing herself.

This round will end Saturday, December 5th.

To the bear, it seemed that every time it swung its head around, there was another wolf diving in to harass it. But the lumbering ursine was stubborn by default and simply dug in. It rose on its hind legs, towering over them and to gain better sights of its quarry that had now disappeared into the shadows bit by bit. But it was not entirely out of sight in spite of how the wolves had greedily picked over it.

On the outside of the circle, Mordecai paced unevenly as he searched for an opening. The bear had taken a fair swipe after Harlyn not moments before and while Luke was putting up an impressive front, it did not seemed deterred yet by their actions. His eyes scanned past the bear, unable to find Ilya in the cover of the foliage, and he hoped that she had not fled them as he came round to strike again from behind. But the bear was waiting on such a tactic and fell forward, sinking back to all fours to turn lazily to face him. His footfalls went erratic to avoid the beast and did so, only to be given chase with an annoyed bellow.

The bear was no keen to relinquish his chance at a meal so easily. It fought back against the wolves' advances, menacing them with teeth and claw. Luke kept his distance, but took whatever chance was afforded him to dart in and lay another bite on the bear's hide. Mordecai took to its rear and delivered another blow. Unfortunately, he invoked the wrath of the bigger predator, and was now on the run from it. Luke took off in hot pursuit, biting at flank and heel in an effort to distract the bear from his alpha.

Misty joined Luke in the chase. They needed to get the bear away from Mordecai.....fast. She tried to think of a way to distract the bear and smelled a small herd of deer nearby. She changed direction and came around the back of the heard, barking loudly and scaring the deer. she started chasing them towards the bear, careful not to spook them into changing direction.

Hey all! I'm going to wrap this puppy up for us. thanks for participating!!

It was Mordecai who finally succeeded in tearing the bear's attention away from the kill. With a roar, it tore after him with the rest of the wolves quick to follow in its heels, all of them determined to not allow it to take him for its prize instead of the kill it had lost. It was Misty - the quietest and most reluctant of the bunch - that forced the last straw for the bear. With the chaos of wolves and deer rushing around, the beast threw in the towel, averting its trajectory with a roar and thundering of and away from them all.

Hardly was quick to inspect them all for wounds. Seeing none, she allowed her pride at their accomplishment to overwhelm her. She tossed back her head and howled for their strength and bond before turning them all back to Ilya to help her bring their well-won kill home.