Whitefish River I'll catch you...

injury roll dang he got super lucky!
Tagging all at Whitefish: @Hieronymous @Evergreen @Connor @Inna if one of you could help him out of this it would be much appreciated

Still in the middle of the exploration phase of their scouting mission, Emrik ventured out early in the morning. The River had changed, but there was an excitement to recreate, rebuild on the bones of what remained.

With Speedy at the Plains, Emrik had taken it upon himself to find them the prefect den to have their litter. Their litter. Emrik still couldn’t believe it. Of course, they still needed to talk to Ira, and get permission. He made a mental note to talk to Speedy soon, he had no idea how much time they had to prepare before Speedy’s heat.

Although his main priority was reexploring their territory, Emrik was still worried about Hieronymous. That man needed to eat! So Em decided to multitask his morning by heading out on a little hunt. It wasn’t difficult to find the scent of some lingering hares. Going about tracking them down, Emrik was so engrossed in the hunt that he missed the dangerous signs around him.

Sunken holes littered the area he had unknowingly wandered into. Before he knew what was happening, he was falling. The ground disappearing beneath him as he stepped on a well concealed drop. He let out a surprised yelp as he fell, and another as he hit the ground.

The titan was wondering around the area to make sure that it was safe for the whole of Kaistleoki to venture back to. The herald kept his nose to the ground and on several occasions, he almost bumped his head into either a rock or a tree. But Connor didn't stop, he was determined to scour the area as best as he could since he felt like he had a lot on his shoulders and the cinnamon man didn't want to waste time even if his paws ached. The scent of Emrik was starting to slither into his nose, perhaps he went so fast that he caught up with his partner, or maybe Emrik was doing something else. Either way, the large man lifted his head and his orbs set his sights on Emrik, it seemed he was busy hunting.

Connor gritted his teeth and jerked his head down, he didn't want to accidentally throw off Emrik or scare his prey away. Connor looked like a preying cat that got caught in the night and he began to slowly back up, but he had to move his muzzle to see where he was going. But then, it happened. The next thing he knew was the sound of a panicked Emrik falling hit his ears like a siren and Connor snapped his head towards where he saw Emrik last. "Emrik!" He called with a worried tone as he lept to his paws and dashed towards the scene. The large man skidded to a stop in a drift like fashion as he loomed over the edge of the hole and peered down. "Emrik! Emrik! Can you hear me?" His voice thundered down the hole as he desperately tried to find a way down to where he could not only fit, but somehow drag Emrik out since he was large and strong enough to do so.

Inna was observing a newly formed stream when she heard the faint shouts. She got there as fast as she could without putting herself in danger. She was especially worried when she realized the area they had gone into. This was clearly unsafe, as evidenced by sunken in areas and the lack of healthy plants that required deep root systems. She caught up to Connor and realized it was Emrik who had fallen in. There had to be some way in. She just had to think. Maybe Emrik could see something useful. "Are you alright?" she called.

Dust and debris continued to fall around him, Emrik coughed and sputtered. Covered from head to tail in dirt, Em looked around confused. He was surrounded by darkness, save for the stream of light coming from the whole above his head. Thoroughly disorientated he looked blearily up at the voices shouting down at him.

Giving another cough her tried to call back up, “Connor?” He tried first, the sound coming out as barely more than a whisper. He cleared his throat again, with more force. “Connor? Inna? He called again, this time the sound loud enough to travel. He tried to look around at his surroundings but found it almost impossible to see.

Attempting to stand, Emrik found that he was relatively uninjured. Miraculously. He had bruises, and his head ached, but other than that he was fine. Until he took a step. It appeared he had landed on a bed of dirt and moss, breaking his fall. But he had done damage to his front left paw. There wasn’t enough light to discern what was wrong, but it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.

As his emerald orbs searched down the pit that poor Emrik had fallen into, Inna was quick to respond as well as she came bounding to his side and expressed the same concern about Emrik's well being. Connor's ears perked to the sound of Emrik's voice, his fallen comrade sounded like he got the wind knocked out of him but the titan could be thankful that he wasn't knocked out or else this would have gotten more complicated. "We hear you Emrik!" He replied with an assuring tone, the man had to calm himself if he was going to get Emrik out, so he tried to act more positively to the situation in front of them. "Don't worry buddy! We'll get you out!" He tried to sound more cheerful to not only keep himself relaxed but to also keep Emrik at ease so that his panic didn't cause him to hurt himself more.

But how would they get him out? Connor believed he could single-handedly pull Emrik, but his size would become an issue in the resue, so he turned to Inna for help. "He doesn't sound to badly hurt, but I can't be sure," he darted his eyes towards where his packmate fell with an analytical gaze, "perhaps if we find a reasonably sized hole, we can dig at and I might be able to wiggle myself in and pull him out." The man bit his lip as his face expressed that he was in deep thought, "I don't know how far the others are for us to call for help, but the sooner we get him out, the better," the Herald concluded.

skipping Inna’s turn with permission

The man nodded slowly, he could hear Connor and Inna above which was good. He obviously wasn’t to deep, but deep enough for it to be impossible for him to climb out. The man looked around, the tunnel only illuminated by the sun. Coughing slightly as the dust settled, Emrik could make out the blackness of a tunnel. His eyes slowly adjusting. “Hey there’s a little path down here!” Emrik called up, taking a step into the labyrinth. Maybe it led to a way out.

The large man still peering down, listened to Emrik's words when his partner said that he could see a way out of the hole. Connor nodded, "okay! Try and follow that to see if it leads to anywhere!" He called down to Emrik, his voice echoing in his ears as he turned to Inna, "let's try and follow his path and see if it really does lead to an exit and hopefully we can help him there." With a determined spark in his eyes, he turned his body away and tried to scout out very carefully to make sure that he could keep up with where Emrik was going, his emerald orbs scanning the cracks of the Earth to see if they lead anywhere.

I'm so sorry, I forgot all about this thread! 

Inna nodded at Connor, then followed Emrik as he made his way down the trail. She didn't mention how worried she was that the tunnel would collapse in on itself, but anyone could tell by how tense her muscles were. She didn't even want to say anything, fearing the noise would cause a cave-in.

He slowly made his way toward the light, picking his way through the tunnel wary of the dirt falling from the ceiling and the rocks crowding around his paws. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Emrik knew he had to get out, he had made a promise which he had every intention of keeping. Just a little further. He told himself, trying to calm his fiercely beating heart.

Even with his slow pace the man quickly drew closer and closer to the light. The sound of rushing water echoed through the tunnel, and Emrik could see the river. Feeling safer, Emrik picked up the pace, limping as he came to the exit. Finally he made it to the edge of the river, and exited the tunnel.

Out of the suffocating dark, Emrik collapsed to catch his breath only now realizing how claustrophobic it had been. He had no intention of entering again any time soon.