Heron Lake Plateau Isn't that an automatic throw

Something had roused him from his sleep, leaving Raven’s side and the few other mostly-darkish forms that were his children for reasons that he hadn’t quite figured out yet.  Something was off, though.  Things were dark and relatively still, so what had it been?  It was just a still-wintery night as far as he could tell…

Or was it?  As he wound his way away from their snowbound thicket, he heard something else moving up ahead.  The inky alpha slowed his pace, creeping along so that he could sneak up on whatever it was.  Hopefully it’d turn out to just be someone out for a late night snack – it was pretty close to a cache – but that wasn’t going to be the case.  Quixote crested a snowdrift, and in the slight depression in the landscape on the other side, he saw another figure sniffing about in the snow.  A coyote, of course.  A brave as hell one (or just plain stupid), considering how deep into the territory it had voyaged.

He couldn’t tell from here what kind of shape it was in, but he honestly wasn’t going to sit there forever studying it.  Instead he snarled and dove after the other canine, which bolted off with Quixote in pursuit.

Poe was exhausted as she trudged back across the borders of the territory. She'd been out scouting again, but this time in pursuit of large prey instead of brothers or willows. She'd eventually caught up with a decent-sized herd of blacktail deer moving along the northern edges of King Elk Forest, but they were stationary and she was unable to tell if they would move to the East towards where she knew a pack was settling or in some other direction where they would be fair game. In any case, she had been alone and not equipped to take them on by herself. So, home she went to find reinforcements. Well, first rest. Then reinforcements.

It was as she was headed towards the heart of the territory that she spotted them - Quixote rushing along in pursuit of someone she at first thought was Owen (which struck her as extremely weird because Qui was looking very aggressive). But after a moment, she realized it wasn't a packmate at all. It was a coyote. Her eyes widened as her exhaustion fled and she took off, sweeping in from the side to try and cut the trespasser off at the head. Poe was not exactly a great fighter by any means, but she was quick, and she was damn good at getting in the way of the right people (and staying out of the way of the wrong ones).

She wasn't the only one mistaking the other wolf for something or someone else.  For a brief moment, he thought the brown blur that came out of the night in front of them was another coyote, but once his brain caught up, he realized it was much too big to be a coyote's ally.  No, it was Poe, he realized after a moment, but kept his focus still on the retreating coyote.  Okay, good.  Backup.  That much of a higher chance they could kill the damn pest.

Her positioning was perfect.  With a yip, the coyote was forced to screech to an almost-halt and veer off parallel to her approach.  This allowed Quixote to cut a bit of a corner and get much closer, but Poe was still a bit closer and it wasn't going to give up so quick.  After all, if it gave up, chances were that would mean it would be dead -- it had a dutiful alpha and protective father on its tail and that was only one of the wolves following...  To the south borders! he called.  If they could manage to steer it and corner it there, it wouldn't have a way out due to the cliffs -- or at least certainly less of one than it did if it could escape one of the other sides.  If it was that bold, it couldn't stay.

The coyote was a quick little bastard, but Poe wasn't easily deterred. The beast almost tripped over itself upon realizing Poe was after it now too, but that wasn't enough for her to get close enough to nab it. She glanced aside to notice Quixote's dark form still racing as he called out to her. To the South. Got it.

Poe turned herder then, tilting her path as needed to block the coyote from going in a direction she didn't want. She didn't know the territory well enough to understand why the Southern border was the place to go, but she trusted Quixote, and she suspected she knew just why they were headed this way. She grinned a little. Poe was not a violent creature, but she did enjoy a nice challenge.

It seemed to be cooperating, and the wolves herded it pretty well.  Then again, Quixote definitely had the advantage here over the trespassing coyote, knowing the territory and all.  A couple of times it tried to dive past Poe but it didn't have the guts to try for real.  It might have to make a real decision soon though, it was running out of time. Qui was just running along, it wasn't too exciting until they got to their destination.

And eventually they arrived, the coyote in the lead and the pursuers tailing along not too far behind so they could try to steer it. Beyond, the earth dropped off rather sharply into the blackness of night.  Sure, it wasn't an outright giant cliff like a cartoon but it was enough that someone not expertly surefooted wouldn't want to descend, let alone in a rush at night.  It wasn't exactly an easy climb either.  The coyote skidded to a stop near the edge, looking back at the approaching wolves over its shoulder, turning slightly to face them with a snarl.  Trapped!

Quixote slowed to a near stop, snarling.  No way he was gonna overshoot that edge.

It took some time, but they eventually had it cornered. Poe was panting heavily as she came to a stop, feeling exhausted. She knew she couldn't call it quits yet, though. Now came the fight.

Except. She really wasn't a fighter. Poe met the canine's snarl with her own bared teeth, but she hesitated. She glanced over at Quixote, looking for instruction. She would absolutely take his lead, but she never preferred to kill. Didn't mean she wouldn't, just that she wasn't going to be the one to pass that particular sentence.

I like rolling a D20 for an outlandish thing and getting a 19.

This probably would have been a lot more reliably dealt with if Quixote was teamed up with Towhee or -- okay that was an issue, he wasn't sure who else he'd count.  The pack might be running a bit short on people who were knowledgeable fighters and that wasn't exactly a good thing.  Either way, he understood that Poe was kind of just there as backup -- she was good for the chase, but he wasn't necessarily going to ask her to get her hands dirty unless she really wanted to.

The coyote, though, also had a choice.  Sort of.  Neither of the options were good and both came with a high chance of death.  So what flavor of death did it want today?  Quixote lunged forward, expecting to be met head-on but his teeth clipped together in the air.  Nothing.  Partially because the air in front of him had emptied itself of coyotes.  Um, what.  He skidded to a stop, carefully taking a couple steps forward.  He gawked over the edge, seeing a few pebbles rolling down the slope, but it eventually turned to darkness and foliage and blocked the view.  That's a thing.  Blink blink.   Okay, he had not been thinking that the coyote was gonna Assassin's Creed this whole thing.  Was it even alive down wherever it landed?  He looked over to Poe.  Did she just see what the hell happened here?   Nobody would believe this.

It looked like it would be a fight. Poe braced herself to join the fray when she saw Quixote dart forward. She hesitated before pouncing herself, wanting to take a moment to make sure she could enter in a way that wouldn't impede the alpha. And it was lucky she had, because otherwise the coyote's sudden turn and lunge off of the cliff might've been entirely missed.

Poe's lunge never came. She froze in place instead, blinking in surprise at the spot where the coyote had once been and where only Quixote now stood. He turned and looked at her, equally bewildered. But, they were both safe at least. Interesting. "Wow..." Poe commented, relaxing, "So. How does it feel to know that faced with a cliff or you, a coyote would choose the cliff?"

He smiled awkwardly.  Qui wasn't outwardly the most friendly looking of dudes -- he was a scruffy and burly dude with a kind of spiky countenance, after all.  Anyway.  That aside, he'd thought of the drop-off at the edge of the world here as kind of a vertical wall as well.  Who would want to jump?  It confused him.  Canines didn't come with wings.  He was pretty sure a deer wouldn't do it, though -- that'd be too convenient for the wolves. I mean you're here too.  Probably not too good odds.  The edge of the plateau is uh... It lacks the ability to be super pissed I guess.  That's all he could think of.  Better to take chances with an inanimate piece of geology than things that got angry when you screwed with their land?

He tried to get a better look without getting any closer, craning his neck, I'm gonna have to take another look when it's light out, but... Think anyone could actually slide down that?  I went down a chunk of it, but it was a way shorter distance -- still got beat up from it.  He'd kept his hunting after rainstorms well away from grassy edges after that.

Quixote answered her with logic, which made Poe smile and stifle a small laugh. She was reminded of her conversation with Rye, how she had described the alpha as being fair. It remained an accurate label for him, or so she surmised.

Her gaze slipped back down the edge of the Plateau into the trees. She considered his question for a moment before shrugging lightly and offering an answer. "I wouldn't think so, but maybe the coyote knows something we don't," she replied, "In my experience, coyotes are built a bit nimbler than we are. Maybe they have some skill with navigating vertical walls than we do. In any event, it's nothing something I'd dare try myself. I'd have probably just tried to fight ya."

She grinned at him, her tail wagging softly.

Figure we can wrap this up since you wanna pull her from the game? :D

He nodded.  It didn't seem particularly survivable, but he was thinking of his own experience and his comparative lack of agility.  Still, despite what had happened at least things were in good humor.  I dunno, might be the most advantageous choice.  Stuff hasn't allowed for much practice on my part -- I could just be a giant pile of rust for all I know.  Hopefully not, some things you had a hard time un-learning, fortunately or unfortunately.  Anyway.  Less effort on our part, I guess.  Hopefully if it's alive, it won't come back.  That was a little too deep in the territory for comfort.  Even if there weren't really pups on the way in the pack yet (maybe?  timelines??), the thought that it could be a danger to young pups nagged at the back of his mind.  It was something he thought about these days.

It's way too early still.  Or late. I don't even know.  I'm gonna go try to get some more sleep.  Unless you like this hour, might want to go do the same.  Some people were weird.  But as the adrenaline from the chase started to work its way out of his bloodstream, he was pretty pooped and going back to snooze sounded like a good idea.  This wasn't exactly how he'd expected the evening to go.

Poe smirked at his self-depricating comments. She was certain he wasn't as out of shape as he seemed to think. You didn't need to spar daily to still be in fighting form when the moment came. But she let him continue along that vein and listened as he shifted to another. She was tired too after all, come to think of it.

"Oh, I'm with you. I need some shut eye for sure," Poe said, shifting her posture to head out before it occurred to her that she ought to take the opportunity to clue him in on the events of her day. "I actually spent the day down South near King Elk Forest. I tracked a herd moving across the northern border of the woods. Seemed like they might keep going towards the creek where some group of wolves is trying to settle, but they could change course and head North once they realize the water source they were checking out aren't predator free. I'll keep an eye on it, but thought you ought to know."

Poe would leave it up to him if he wanted to send a hunting party. It was a bit of a jog and might not be worth the effort if they did head to the Creek where custom would deem they belonged to the other pack. If they came North though, that'd be a different story, but still not one for her to call.

Works for me! I'll send her to bed after this :D

It'd be nice if they could have some more food delivered directly to their territory.  Preferably some that weren't as wise to the way of their particular pack.  He nodded, Thanks, I'll keep an eye out.  I think that might be a little bit far, but if they end up in the floodlands, then  that'd certainly open things up for us.  I think that herd that goes from here to Grouse Thicket is getting a bit too wise.  Would be nice to spread the hunting around a little.  Maybe it just felt that way sometimes though.  Anyway.  Go sleep well.

Well, something else to think about when it was not so dark out.  Time to go.  He bobbed his head then headed back to where this whole thread had started to curl up at Raven's side.