Hideaway Strath Nearly lost

Tagging: @Kynareth Deagon @Derg @Arlette @Hemlocke @Zsuzsa @Evelynn 
@Leigh @Whrist @Sasha Deagon @Simmik 

---

Nyra was out patrolling when the sky darkened.
At first she paid it no mind, then as the snow fell, and the wind picked up, the Harbinger had a foreboding feeling about the coming weather, sending up a loud, booming and strong howl across the valley for all Saints to head to The Chambers, the place by the the mountains touching the Strath, in the side of the rock where earth-bound tunnels interconnected and lead to different rooms. 

They would all be safe there. An hour later, Nyra herself sat inside, awaiting all Saints who were not yet inside.

Though it was day, Hemlocke was out. It was rare moments like these, deep within the dark and snowy depths of winter, that the hellhound was able to move during daylight hours. Yet, no day.

Hemlocke was tired, completely off his schedule by being awake now but happy, wonderous of his ability. Otherwise he would have already been within the tunnels Nyra now called them to. 

The snow coming down heavier, the sky nearly blackened as though by a complete smoke, Hemlocke made way into the cavern to settle at Nyra's side. On the wind is warning by Mother Nature. He tipped up his black muzzle and sniffed the icy winds. The end is near. A foreboding warning, perhaps more so then intended. But the storm would end what life remained from Autumn's grasp.

Arlette felt the wind tugging at her pelt, it was thick enough for the wind not to find any holes. The female quirked up her lips into a smile. She had been in a lesser condition before. The snows came down soon after. Arlette stopped in her tracks. With the wind and snow she was brought back to another time. She was reminded of Kaito and that time he shielded her from the snowstorm they endured in the mountains. And when they found that cave--- A howl sounded. Nyra called.

She was pulled from her thoughts, but still looked up at the sky. She thought about Stjor's words and how he thought wolves would go to the skies to become the stars. She couldn't see anything of the skies except endless grey. Arlette turned on her heels, but not towards the cave, not yet. She went by the herb stash first. One that she and Dove had collected. She grabbed the lavender and few of the poppy seeds before rushing to heed the call.

Arlette came in with a blanket of snow on her back. She shook herself and got rid of all the snow. The female continued inside the cave system. She hadn't been here. Soon she spotted Nyra, and wagged her tail in greeting. She also spotted a black mate she hadn't met. She placed the lavender and poppy seeds down. If anyone got a running nose or symptoms of cold she would be able to help them.

She looked to the entrance. She hoped Derg would come inside soon. The female turned to the dark male. "I'm Arlette," she introduced kindly before looking at Nyra. "Any idea how long this will last?"

The wind and snow drove any locality of prey far west, out of the bounds of Teekon Wilds. Zsuzsa noted this on her last round of hunting. Especially in areas like Heron Lake, Two Rivers, and Shadewood the substantial population suddenly disappeared. Like any wild animal knew, something was in the air that had an unsettling vibe to it.
 
She lately kept her distance from the pack, focusing solely on building up their food supply. After getting poisoned by a coyote in Sun Mote Copse, Zsuzsa felt wary of all communication alike. Her immune system was still processing the residual effects of the poison and threw her hunting tactics off some. There was no hunting to really do though now most of the prey disappeared.
 
Nyra’s call pierced the skies of the Strath, to which Zsuzsa abided and met with the gathering in the cave. Coming in with snow dotting her fur, her muzzle dipped in greeting to Nyra. Noticing Hemlocke and his exhausted facade, she nodded her muzzle to greeting to him, then saw the naturally optimistic Arlette and gave her greeting to her as well.
 
They seemed to be lightly chatting about current events and Zsuzsa would chime in. ”The main herds of deer and elk in Northwest Tuktu have moved on now.” Zsuzsa remarked in a solemn tone to the group.

if this is not ok PM me and I'll change it. didn't really think about that until after I posted

Whrist had known long ago there was a storm brewing she had been born to the northern chill and signs had been ramped even over the last few days, the stillness of the air, the drop in temperature the slow gathering and then stumble darkening of the clouds along with the subtle drying of the atmosphere as it drew up it’s moisture into the clouds above so that it may spew it out later in force. It was the last that usually got the wolves with old injuries or heaven forbid they lived long enough to have arthritis to act up.

Whrist had been looking for a good place to weather the storm, she had a new toy to protect, when she heard the familiar call of the white witch, she fought the urge to roll her eyes until she understood what it was the Nyra commanded.

Her dark paws altered course, Whrist held a Raven in her maw, not a bird common to this part of the teekon and it lay limply and docilely in her jaws though it was not dead, not by a long shot. She entered the cavern behind the wolf she had met the captive with but her scent was off this time. Whrist stared at her hard for a moment before passing her by and the other wolves putting herself between the wolves and her toy, it was only then she tossed her head upward and let go of the bird tossing the Raven up into the air. The bird fluttered then caught what little air it could and flew deeper into the cave presumably to hide.

Whrist turned around finally looked over the others in the cave, she gave a warn nod to Arlette, and a respectful one to Nyra. She looked over the large black male surprised to see a male outside of the Grandmaster or Oversear, however curious of him, her gaze went back to the other dark coated female

“What did you eat?” She asked her, concern lacing her voice, not that Whist could do anything to help  and she was unaware of what had happened to Zazusa however Whrist was fully aware and practiced with of the scent of poisons and what they did to a wolf's body, scent, posture and even mind.

The wind was swirling around her, causing the feathers in her fur to flutter and move as if they were longing to fly away. With a deep inhalation she took in the air, tasted the storm on her tongue just as a howl broke the artificial science.

Ah, The Harbinger. With a flick of her wrist she placed the large wolf skull of their long ago second in command on her own skull. Her jewel toned eyes looking out where there had once been yellow, the spirit manifested instantly to her. The large woman gestured to the quiet young girl they had taken from this life, what felt like so long ago, but all she did was shake her head. Last thing the Medic wanted was to hear those cries around her packmates. A few herbs dangled from her lips as she moved, lavender to help those that might find this storm strrssful.

Other had come, following the summon to a cave opening. A lovely find indeed, with a swish of her high curled tail she dipped her head and moved within. She had heard the warning the hellhound spoke of and she gave him a smile, this might be true but her signs said that might not be the case...

Derg can be PP and skipped here

Nyra sent up a howl.
Calling for all.
He continued across the land, ambling. Lost in himself, really.

Snow blistered across his body, his left side caked in thick clumps already.
Maybe he should join the others.
He wiped his running nose on a foreleg and continued on towards the Chambers.

He shook himself, but only water and ice fell from him. That snow still caked him.
With a few grumbles, he followed the sound of voices and the feeling of warmth.
A soft corvid caw echoed.
It seems all were looking for shelter now.

His eyes rested on Arlette first, a smile gracing his features as he beheld her. Safe, and likely warmer.
"I guess I got caught out," he grinned softly, drifting to his...friend. Crush. Perhaps...more.
He lowered his head, expecting some sort of scolding for getting so battered, but still he smiled.
Because Arlette surely couldn't hold hate within her.

 

Gonna respond now :> 

As she called, she was grateful Arlette and herself had found this place prior to the storm hitting. 
As Hemlocke came in, he said something sinister, making Nyra's skin crawl a tad. Joining quickly, soon after, Arlette. Then Zsuzsa, Whrist, Dove with her skull, and plants, and finally Derg. 

Derg definitely seemed infatuated with Arlette, which Nyra smiled at. Whrist inquired to what Zsuzsa ate, and Nyra paid a small amount of attention to that as well. 

But no others had come yet. Nobody else had joined them in The Channels. 
Letting out a quiet, worrisome whine, Nyra watched attentively, unmoving as she watched for Kynareth, for Leigh, for Evelynn. If Sasha or even Simmik came, Nyra didn't really care. But everyone else, she wanted them safe. 
Though she hoped quietly for Simmik and Sasha to come for Donovan's sake.

A medic, another. Hemlocke watches the little woman enter the cavern and settle the herbs and seeds down. It was good to have multiple. After all, the ranks held many warriors and required much medical need to keep them tiptop. The warlock turns dark red eyes to her as she speaks to him and he dips his head quietly to her introduction. Hemlocke Grove ... His groveled tones offered though quickly distracted to the arrival of Zsuzsa. To her he dips his muzzle in turn, eyes observing her, moving over the length of her long and lean figure. Thinner, a bit, but otherwise he didnt see any horrible new signs of her previous poisoning. 

Another woman then, just as black as he and Zsuzsa's self, who wore the darkness with a pride. Locke secretly found it quite interesting and, almost relaxing to be among so many who held the night as he. She was much like Zsuzsa, with dark coat and very pale eyes. She was lean and curved the same, but a smaller version. She held a raven, alive and fluttered away when freed. She questioned Zsuzsa, concern in her voice yet the hard look she had given her firstly did not go unnoticed by Locke. He would observe though intervene if needed. That was until...

Dove would distract him, her name but a jest to her actual dangerous and deadly nature which she carried. A skull upon her crown, the same which she often wore, of their former treacherous Second. She makes her own offering of herbs to calm the nerves, as Arlette had done. She is a pristine as ever. Solid white, fluffy and feathery in ways Leigh was too. His sun and sky, if only... He smiles back, but says not. 

It was the baratones of a male which twisted his ears and his body muzzle lifts and to the side to the scarred mug of Derg. Then a whine of his Harbinger and he is forced to draw away his desire for Dove and worry of Zsuzsa for the time being and onto her. A man whom held often his emotions in, he is drawn like moth to flame to the distress of others. He comes, slithering to the much larger woman's side, to fuse his black fur into her white. Often did he not touch, or at least not make the first move to do so, but it was she, Nyra, that he had fully opened up about his past to savor Donovan himself and she had done the same for him. She had been the first friend he had made here. 

Now though, as he stood so near her, he looks out to the storm as she does, liquid gold and liquid blood eyes together. Where was their leader? Where was dear Leigh?

Arlette dipped her head to the male when he introduced himself. The female looked at the entrance, each time someone entered she hoped that it was Derg. She felt a bit guilty for feeling that way. First came Zsuzsa and then Whrist. She offered them wag of the tail, glad they were safe. The female couldn't help but stare at the opening. Dove came in, clearly the healers had the same mind, as Dove had brought herbs as well. She nodded to her fellow healer.

Arlette tried to focus on who was there, though she noticed that their leader was not here yet. The female let out a whine of relief when she saw Derg. Her embarrassment for the sound made her stay put. Hopefully no one really registered it. Her tail wagged harder when he smiled at her. When he approached her she was quick to approach him as well. She didn't dare to be super intimate with him, because if they were alone she might have licked him. The female saw his coated side and was reminded of that time with Kaito. Her ears flopped back, and she wondered how long she would have Derg in her life. She turned to Nyra. "What do we do about the others that aren't here?," she asked worriedly.

She wasn’t anticipating some eyes carefully and consistently watching her. It was expected from Hemlocke to leer at a distance, it was a process to get used to his observing, silent sanguine gaze. He may have provided the illusion of being so detached from the rest of the pack but upon learning more of his nature and ways, Zsuzsa knew he just held concern in his fellow pack members.
 
It was Whrist’s question that perked her ears in surprise. There was nobody else other than Hemlocke who was aware of the poisoning. Silver eyes gave a silent look at Whrist saying, how did you find out? “Tainted hare, in Sun Mote Copse.” Zsuzsa started, keeping her voice somewhat hushed amongst other chatter, but in their close quarters, someone was bound to hear their conversation. “From a coyote with violet eyes. Be wary of prey you find looking too good to be true and dead.” Zsuzsa had no knowledge of what she was exactly poisoned with but was best to caution in case another Saints ran into a free meal somewhere in the Hinterlands.
 
A couple more filtered in. Zsuzsa was captivated by the dual eyed female in white, a trophy of a wolf skull upon her and her fur decorated with feathers. She didn’t readily associate her as Dove but knew she had to be something of a high shaman-type figure to the pack. Derg followed suit, and after some time that was all that came in so far. There was a visible frown on Zsuzsa’s muzzle as the absence of Kynareth was evident. She too could care less about the captive, but then her mind began to draw conspiracy theories if the captive did something to endanger Kynareth. Surely the whole pack would have her for dinner if she did such a thing as to harm their Grandmaster. The more time passed, the more she was growing concerned with the rest.

I am so sorry I read your post wrong Zsuzsa I hope you are ok with how that went down, sorry…..

Whrist’s gaze remained ever watchful on Zsuzsa carefully, picking out very subtle changes in her movement from the first time she had seen her and there was a very very slight change in her scent and perhaps a change to the woman’s gaze, mayhaps a slight glaze there, maybe not though she didn’t know her that well.

Whrist ignored the others as they entered though the whine from Arlette drew her attention briefly, the scared female was not hurt though, perhaps excited. Light blues moved briefly to the direction of the whine and saw Derg, she made a small mental note and then her gaze was back to her packmack Zsuzsa.

Whrist was about to reveal to the pack something about herself that no one alive knew. She hesitated but as Zsuzsa’s story filled in the blanks, Whrist’s ears flicked to the back of her skull and she nodded solemnly, The black female looked worried, contrite? No there was a mix of emotions she could not place a paw on. So she began her explanation her voice clear and somewhat cold as she spoke of 'them’  “I am sorry to have brought that up. I know of tainted meat. I once not only dabbled in that art, I spent the first year of my life perfecting that skill."

The black female wrapped her tail around her front paws but continued though her form seemed to shrink in on itself just a bit as her mind dredged up long burried memories.
"Finding just the right combination of poison, that would not only just kill the prey animal that ate my pro-offered poison laced plants, but would die slowly enough that the whole body was stained with poison not just the stomach content. That was so that the wolves who ate it would also die slowly. It took many months and careful experiments and watching of the effects of the poisons upon the white wolves. I watched, smelled and experimented with the recipients of the tainted meat very very closely, learning just how much poison to give to get a certain affect from a wolf."

She sighed and clarified “I learned which poisons I could get a live prey animal to eat and what could subtly put a wolf off their game so the outcome of a duel would be decided before it began and also how much to use to just kill them.” 'And then I killed them all….' She added in her head

Her voice was softer now, worried even “I forgot about those skills I learned in adolescence until I saw you come in, just a minor very subtle change in your gait, nothing that announces to the world but just something that niggled at the dark corners of my mind, your breathing just slightly off and a hint, barely a hint of a scent. Something I think only a dabbler in this activity would note. Though maybe I’m wrong I never got a good scent of you before, maybe your scent is the same and my mind is placing past memories there.”


If the other wolves paused to listen to her, Whrist wanted to shrink into the stone and disappear, maybe the pack would kill her for the threat she might pose with these skills. ‘They’ hadn’t and they had paid for it with their very lives. Hell if she were in their paws she might consider killing her herself, She snapped her mouth shut and stared at the floor, waiting for their judgement, An attack? Questions? Driven out? Something? Anything? She couldn’t help but be self obsessed that was just whom she was at her core.

Gonna skip Dove bc she's inactive

Hemlocke didn't look very happy with Derg returning alone.
He probably wanted to see Leigh and Kynareth. But he just got the Overseer who had hunted him down that first day in the canyon.
Well, it was his fault.

He stood beside Arlette, glad she didn't chastise him and surveyed the group gathered.
Whist spoke of poisons and...horror really. When she'd finished with a shaky breath, he raised a brow. An asset to the Saints. She was either nervous or shaken from remembering all that. 
"Morbid talk," he murmured with a wry smile. Something they should all know about, but something that Zsuzsa might not take to well to.
"But let this all be a lesson to you all. Don't pick up random food, only from out caches, and even then make sure it hasn't been tampered."
He addressed them as a leader should. He was the Overseer, these things were his job.
"I'm sure the others will arrive soon if they haven't found their own shelter."

He tilted his head to Arlette, touching his nose to her briefly before pushing out his forepaws to rest.
There was a deep anxiety in the room, but he hoped he could get them to loosen up and breathe for a bit.

Grateful to Hemlocke for offering his comfort, Nyra gave him a brief, grateful lick on the cheek before returning her attention to everyone else. First, Arlette "We will see if they arrive soon, and if they don't come, perhaps they have found shelter in another part of the Strath. When the storm mellows, I might go look for them." Nyra answered, then turned her attention to Whrist and Zsuzsa especially as the shadows conversed, and as Whrist told her story. 
Turning partially to agree some more with Derg's words, the Harbinger spoke up "Having a knack for toxic plants may prove beneficial in the future. Perhaps you might pursue a trade in toxicology?" She suggested to Whrist, offering a small but supportive smile.
Last Nyra had known, the Saints had a toxicologist member at one point in her earlier recruitment, but the white woman had never seen that member's face, and knew by now that he was long gone.

A sense of worry and weariness seemed to fill the air of the cavern as the world raged outside, the cold sweeping in and doing it's most to threaten the lives of the group who kept together here. 

Nyra's lick to his cheek was met with a pleasant rumble from him as rubied eyes turned with Nyra's own attention onto that of Arlette. She would try and collect the rest of their group, when she could which was fitting of the large white wolf. With mountains all around them, their was a very good chance their missing packmates had found shelter at their nearest as opposed to coming to them. A sudden thought took Hemlocke, wondering if @Leigh and Donovan were in fact, together. He knew their relationship was rocky, at best, and Hemlocke suddenly was more worried of their own hostility towards one another then of the storm. 

With Whrist's story, directed to the night wolf though everyone listened, Derg mentioned it being a lesson to others. To be cautious of what foods they take. Still, Locke could understand the honest error. A hungry wolf would risk eating the bad food then not to eat at all and starve. With winter at its peak now, soon everyone here would be faced with dying of hunger or eating anything, or anyone, they came across not their own. 

Her skill might prove useful and Nyra made that clear as she spoke to Whirst. The smaller black female had drawn into herself, turning her gaze down at realizing everyone to be listening in. Though it had not worked out for the night wolf on the receiving end, Whist could teach them all about being able to tell the change in scent or coloration, anything to look for should any of their group be targeted for poisoning again. This, and should any other group of wolves, coyote or other scavengers can about, they could use their skill to poison them and in desperate times use them for a source of food instead. 

So Hemlocke's largely pointed ears were perked with great curiosity as he listened, his lowered tail waving when Nyra had made her suggestion.

Arlette swallowed thickly when Whirst talked. She spoke about testing it on white wolves. Her red eyes were wide. "White.. wolves?," she asked softly and then looked at Derg. She whispered it mostly to herself but he might likely had heard that. Whirst knew a lot about poisons then, perhaps she should be extra friendly to the female, because she might be able to hurt her, slowly.

She also remembered Simmik's story about that the saints weren't so nice if she was held captive. Slowly she was realizing that the Saints might not be as nice of a pack as she originally thought. But they had been so kind to her, one that wasn't like them. They seemed to have reminded that too when she joined. Now it was kind of clicking together. But not enough that she wanted to run. She wasn't sure if Simmik was just talking nonsense. She hadn't seen any proof that they were really bad, so she stayed quiet with her own little turmoil.

gonna wrap this one up and archive after response, since this is a bit out dated now! <3

 


The blizzard raged on. Their other leader was not to be found, nor was Summit or Sasha. Were they lost to the storm? Time would only tell. 
For now, Nyra kept guard as the white out raged on into the night.