Sound the bugle now

This is an optional pack hunt! The quarry will be a mountain goat and the wolves will be trying to chase it off a cliff, since attacking it on mountain terrain poses a great risk.

Once the wolves begin the chase each participant will roll a dice in each of their posts using the following code:

Code:

[dice="1d8"]8[/dice]

That amount will be subtracted from the goat's health (30/30).
When the goat hits 0, it will run off a cliff to its death.

The sun shone brightly on Silvertip Mountain, while a heavy fog shrouded the lowlands below. It was early morning, and Jinx Kesuk was on the hunt for breakfast for herself and her loyal wolves.

The Alpha female wasted no time surveying the grounds below. The visibility was terrible, and she could already tell that finding prey in the dense mist would take more effort than it was worth. Instead, the pale bitch scoured the mountainside, working her way from south to east along narrow game trails and precarious ridges.

There! Higher on the mountain, bleating and oblivious, was a herd of woolly white creatures. Never had Jinx hunted their like before, but she took note of some key characteristics: the small, curvy horns adorning their heads, the broad back, and their impeccable balance. She knew from experience that hunting them on this terrain as if they were ordinary elk would spell disaster for her wolves. They needed a strategy... But first, they needed numbers.

She tilted her head back and howled, summoning any wolves awake and hungry to aid her in taking down one of these foreign beasts.

Majesty perked his ears at the sound of his Alpha calling from the mountainside. He had spent his first night in the new pack inside the massive crystal-lined cave, marveling at its beauty. He had awoken with the dawn, stretched his muscles, and then gone to the entrance of the cave to see what the weather was like.

Mist. That was nearly all he could see. That was when he heard Jinx's howl. He grimaced. Finding his way to her in weather like this, on a mountain, would be treacherous. He took a deep breath, breathing in the cold, wet morning air, and then slowly began to pick his way down the narrow mountain paths toward the place where he had heard the Alpha howling. He could feel the water droplets in the air clinging to his fur.

In about ten minutes, he saw her large white form through the mist, and his tail wagged in greeting, but it remained low to the ground out of respect for Jinx's higher position in the pack. "Good morning, Alpha," he said as he neared her, his deep voice echoing strangely in the fog. He bowed his head in reverence. "You rallied me. What do you need?"

Majesty made sure to keep low to the ground. He could not help that he was larger than his Alpha, and so he did all he could to make himself seem smaller. That was how one gained an Alpha's respect, by showing respect oneself. He gave her a smile out of kindness, and then waited for her response.

Life as a loner gave Erika the habit of waking early to start moving before others did. Now that she was in a pack, she had no reason to, but old habits die hard. She decided to take a walk on the mountainside. This particular morning saw the mountains strewn with mist.....which reminded her of a song.

"Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light."

She was singing it softly when Jinx's howl interrupted her. It was a summons, nothing urgent, but the black wolf felt the need to answer it. Turning towards the howl, she broke into a run, still singing the song.

"Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!"

For Thorin Oakensheild ;^; and... Dat title tho... Bryan Adams, man.

Tyrande looked up from her clay-making, the half-made pot lumpy and disfigured. She quickly covered it in moist moss and set it in the moist crevice at the back of her den before she sped off, not even bothering to clean her muzzle and paws of dirt.

She arrived swiftly, the shade wolf entering the cave and nodding acknowledgements to the others silently, her eyes expectant.

Kaname had made a rare mistake that night, sleeping outside of the cave. When Jinx's howl woke him, he was covered in dew and felt chills all through his body. Not a pleasant way to wake up. The dark wolf stretched, feeling the tension of his muscles from to cold. Giving himself a shake, he broke into a run towards the cave.

Already there was Majesty, Tyrande, and an unfortunately maimed and starved female. He made a note to learn her name later, after the summons was finished.

Red eyes turned towards the sound of his queen's call and with one last deft look around he loped towards her howl. Hearing voices and movements in the darkness as the fog was paramount made his hackles raise and the voices screaming ever louder in his care worn head. Queen needs queen needs darkness darkness mist creeps it creeps.

Like some dawn of the dead spectre he materialized from the fog, red eyes glowing darkly as he took in those who were there. Two he did not know the little one Tyrande and the half face Erika. You called Sitri. He spoke as the hulking scarred brute took up a stance near the half faced one. he stood studying the others and listening always listening.

Several wolves rallied to her call. The Alpha female had expected Sitri and Tyrande to show up, those two having proven themselves time and again to be present for most any event, but she was pleasantly surprised when Erika, Kaname, and Majesty also arrived. With the hunting party gathered and the pale female taking a moment to greet them all and show them her appreciation for their presence, it was on to business for the Silvertip wolves.

“We will hunt those,” Jinx explained, indicating the herd milling on the crags overhead. “Does anyone have experience hunting on the mountain? What is the best way to approach them?” Perhaps it would seem naive to her wolves that Jinx wasn't wholly aware of the best mountain hunting tactics, but if that was the case, the Kesuk didn't care.

Majesty listened to his Alpha's question about what the best tactic was for hunting on a mountain. He hmm'd a response as he thought about it. Unfortunately, Majesty had never been very good at hunting as it was, as he was too big to really be very stealthy about anything. He gazed around at the mist that had captured the mountain and sighed in defeat.

"Unfortunately, I don't have an answer. It is dangerous enough as it is hunting on a mountain, as the trails are dangerous. But hunting on a mountain surrounded by fog? This would be suicide, in my humble opinion. Unless we could somehow chase the creatures down to lower ground before we really tried to catch them."

Erika's golden eyes fixed on the creatures hopping from rock to rock. They seemed to have impeccable balance and were not afraid of heights, unlike the wolves who wished to hunt them. Majesty, one of the newcomers, gave a valid point; it was treacherous to climb on the mountain trails, especially with this fog about.

"Majesty is right, but in order for zat to 'appen we would need to be above zem so zey are pressured to go down....Zey do not seem to be afraid of 'eights."

Tyrande thought. "I don't have any mountain hunting experience, other than vermin, but it does seem the most logical to come from above... And driving them downwards poses the possibility of chasing the animal off a cliff with minimal risk..."

By Lupus, she was lame.

The ice-eyed wolf listened to the three wolves, Majesty, Tyrande and the black, skeletal female with a disfigurement on the right half of her face. For wolves who didn't seem to be specialized in hunting, they seemed rather knowledgeable in the field. But he scoffed at their ignorance. They didn't even know what the animals were. They lived on a mountain for goodness' sakes!

"The animals that we are hunting are called mountain goats by the way. And if we are going to hunt them I suggest watching out for those horns of theirs. They will ram you. Especially the males." He hoped he didn't sound too indignant and sarcastic, especially to Jinx. He didn't need an Alpha's wrath at the moment.

Sitri's ears tweaked forward and he spoke quietly and lowly in his guttural voice. their horns can hurt you so can their hooves. They are very good at going where we cannot get. Their life is mountains. Their fur is thick and coarse so you have to be sure that you get their skin and organs too. And Tyrande is right going down from above is best way get the goats. Sitri had never spoken that much in front of anyone, but hunting was a specialty of his and he was at least knowledgeable about that compared to most other things. After he spoke he laid his ear's back in shyness wondering if he had spoken wrongly or out of turn.

She carefully listened to all the advice her more experienced wolves had to offer. Kaname was able to identify the animals as goats, while Majesty and Erika expressed some doubts about successfully hunting them without injury. Most of them concluded that coming from above as the best plan, and after turning to survey the goats perched above for a moment, the Alpha female had to agree. “Then we'll go from above,” said Jinx, turning to lead the way up a towpath.

Once in position, and assuming all of the wolves had followed (though she wouldn't have blamed the less confident members of their hunting party for trying their luck elsewhere), she gestured to the herd and began outlining the plan. “We will take them by surprise and try to break up the herd. If one spooks and becomes isolated, we will pursue that one and force it to lower ground. Do not take unnecessary risks, we don't want any serious injuries here.”

Dice Roll: 1

Majesty listened carefully as his Alpha outlined their plan of attack: "“We will take them by surprise and try to break up the herd. If one spooks and becomes isolated, we will pursue that one and force it to lower ground. Do not take unnecessary risks, we don't want any serious injuries here.”

He nodded once she was finished speaking, and turned towards the herd of mountain goats. With a low growl of excitement for the hunt, he began to pick his way toward them. When he was still fairly far away, the goats became spooked and began to run away. With another growl, he gave chase, trying his best to get one away from the herd. He noticed that one of the goats was limping, and decided to chase after that one, since it would probably be easiest to catch. It was also a female, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting rammed with horns.

As he neared the slowing female, in a panic, she turned in the opposite direction of the herd and ran. Majesty continued giving chase.