Neverwinter Forest an end to smoke
5 Posts
Ooc — Rune
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#1
All Welcome 
First post, and a hunt! Fia may not be much help though… Will be rolling dice to determine how well she does, and she’s also tired and thin from her travels, so there’s that. Please feel free to PP the prey! (And if this isn’t allowed, please also let me know >_>)

Fianna only realised she was tired when she stopped. 

Her ears flattened and her lips curled. Had she been running from the scent of smoke for so long that she had forsaken all the other things her body was telling her? She knew from the tread of the brush and the jagged edges of the treeline that she was far from home now; the only scent of smoke that clung to the air came from her. 

But her senses were duller. This she could tell. She was still fire-blind, her eyes tired and watery from the ash, her nose confused from the lost and found scents of family and flame. She had to rest. She had to get stronger. To starve alone on unknown lands, to not fall back on what she knew - this was not the way. She needed to survive. 

The bush rippled, and a new scent drifted on the breeze. Saliva flooded her mouth before she even registered the musk of a deer. Bending lower to the ground, her green eyes darted, searching out a russet pelt. And there, sheltered in a feathered copse of trees - a young, midsized creature, separated from its family and looking all the more nervous for it.

Taking a few halting steps forward - ignoring the growling of her belly as her body sensed food and hungered for it - Fia sprang forward… moments after a misstep had a twig cracking beneath her. Jolting, the deer leapt away, hurtling into the underbrush, followed by a cursing Fia, ducking deeper into the shadows to give chase.
165 Posts
Ooc — Jess
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#2
It was not only within the pack's claim that the burly male sought to track herds for the pack to hunt. If they exhausted all of their immediate resources, then they would have to range further and further from their home to find food. So he'd been tracking along after the herd of deer for a while before he noticed tracks leading away from the herd. One of the foolish creatures had chosen to split away from the others, which made it all the more of a target. While he suspected his packmates were too far away to give him an assist, he still felt it prudent to track the creature and see if he led to another herd, or to a better grazing ground. 

He would smell the hint of ash and smoke before he even saw or heard the deer or the wolf that pursued it. It made him pause and gaze up through the trees, wondering why it was he thought he smelled smoke. Faint enough, he thought, that it couldn't be near- and it was only when he caught a glimpse of the fleeing deer that he startled and crouched to the ground as they neared. He forgot, temporarily, what might have brought the scent of ash to his nose and kept himself low until the deer sped closer, followed by the dark, thin, lone wolf. Unless they had other friends close by, he figured that due to the wolf's thin frame, this was an act of desperation. 

Adrastus, needless to say, was not one to turn down a hunt. 

So he remained crouched until the deer was chased toward him, at which point he sprang toward it. The creature balked- skidding to a halt in panic, before dashing off in another direction, which he hoped gave the dark wolf enough time to catch up. With the two of them on its trail, they both had a better chance of securing a meal.
5 Posts
Ooc — Rune
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#3
The gloom was deepening, the deer dipping in and out of shadowy pockets as chaser and chased dove into the underbrush. Already Fia could feel herself flagging, her limbs threatening to falter as she fought the lead weight of hunger and exhaustion. Locking her jaw, she sped onward, trying not to panic at the distance that inched wider between her paws and her quarry. She had been, she thought grimly, in this position far too often as of late. What would Benji ever say to that? Her brother would have laughed at her, no doubt. Reminded her how young she was, how slow, how unproven - and how much he had left to teach her. How much time they had assumed they would have left. 

With effort, her paws tracking deeper into the soft loam, Fia tried to gauge if her quarry was beginning to tire. She didn't know this area well enough to pick out the convenient pockets of broken earth or fallen trunks that she could chase it towards to catch it off guard, and her scanning of the surroundings was almost as tiring as the chase itself. Or at least that was what she told herself when a white shape, emerging like an avenging ghost from the green, caught her completely unawares.

As the white wolf sprang forward, Fia resisted the urge to, like the deer, similarly twist off and away. It had been some time since she had last been in the company of another wolf. So far, on her journey here, there had only been stragglers and loners, and they had passed each other with the grim recognition of those who lived on life's fraying edges. This wolf, however, seemed neither of those things - he was certainly not a loner, for he had the skinwarm scent of pack on him, that play of other wolves and the dens and belonging; and for another, he definitely didn't seem poised at the knife-edge mercy of survival. With his thick pelt and sturdy, rugged frame, Fia felt all the more conspicuous for the rib bones that peeked out from her soft, dark fur. 

She pondered, briefly, his presence here. Clearly he had been crouched in wait, but rather than snap and snarl at her to ward her off from the kill - and kill it he would, she had no doubt - he had darted off after it, leaving her to either follow or run away. Alone as she was, weak, Fia's sense of self-preservation was pulling her in two directions. He's bigger than you, stronger, whispered a voice that sounded suspiciously like Amara's, drenched in her sister's trademark paranoia and skepticism. On the other hand, offered Benji, two was always better than one

It was a split-second decision for Fia to follow the wolf who had helped to herd the deer. The sudden appearance of the other wolf had sent a jolt of adrenaline through her; she strained for speed, coming to the tail-end of the Arctic wolf's long stride. Pulling alongside him, still half a torso-length behind, Fia cast a few wary glances his way even as she pressed herself harder, trying to get within striking range of the deer that had so far eluded her. 
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Ooc — Jess
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#4
There was a moment where he could have hesitated to gauge her reaction, but it would have cost them both precious time in their pursuit. He trailed after it, weaving this way and that as it did, trying to make up a bit of ground by cutting corners where he could. This was not his best role he was much more suited for being called into action last and using his strength to bring the beast down, but that wasn't to say he didn't have some speed and stamina. He knew his limits, and figured that he might as well give this one a shot. The female had looked as though she'd been starving. 

He heard her catch up to him and he cast her a brief glance, just long enough to see that she did not appear angry with him- but silently compliant, a sign she was willing to work with him. His lips relaxed, so he could show her a brief smile as he panted, before he barked softly, and put on another burst of speed. A toss of his head to her was given, to indicate she ought take the other flank, so that they might pin the deer between them if she had the strength to help him overtake the deer.
5 Posts
Ooc — Rune
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#5
dice roll = 13. fia will be helpful!! *sigh of relief*

Their eyes met, and in that brief moment Fia read no sign of aggression or intimidation towards her - though she did, perhaps, detect a faint hint of sympathy, no doubt for the less than stellar showing she was putting up. She allowed the briefest of smiles - so rusty, these expressions! - to turn her lips upward at the small smile the Arctic offered, before shifting her focus more closely back to the hunt. 

As the other wolf wove and dove, Fia did her best to make up the ground she had given in her previous missteps. His quiet bark bolstered her, and she pushed her heaving flanks forward, pulling up abreast with him and the roe as they pressed forward through the trees. She was banking on the deer's growing fear as the two predators inched closer, adding a low growl and some teeth-gnashing to shore up the less-than-threatening picture she assumed she made, skin and bones wolf that she was. And sure enough, the deer shied away - and towards the white wolf waiting. 
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Ooc — Jess
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#6
Through the woodlands they wove together, and buoyed by their hunger and silent treaty, they gained on the deer with the thin female flanking it on one side, and Adrastus on the other. Frightened by the threat which bared its teeth and snapped, the deer bounded away from the smaller predator, and at that moment Adrastus put on a burst of speed so that he could overtake the creature, and be just where he needed to be. The deer came not into his path, but up against his side, so that he was a flash of light against the thrashing of her forelegs. 

He snapped his jaws together, making three dull but resounding clicks before he snapped his jaws together on the target- the deer's front leg- which made a loud, splintering sound. With a cry of anguish, the deer stumbled, and its pace slowed considerably now that it could only hobble on three legs. It bleated in terror knowing now that it would neither be able to outrun or out-maneuver the wolves- and now it was up to them to find the right moment and go for the kill. Adrastus circled the creature, licking his lips. Even with only three legs, their quarry was still dangerous- so he relied on his partner's readiness to go in for the kill, once he was able to distract it with a bluff charge.
5 Posts
Ooc — Rune
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#7
Apologies for the wait! :) Rolled a 10, hence a misstep... but fud!

Fia watched as the Arctic bounded forward in a flash of white, snapping sharp teeth around the deer's front leg. A satisfying crack as his aim met true; and the fearful bleating that marked the beginning of the end of a hunt. Fia felt saliva flood her mouth at the thought of the food that awaited, but tried to not get ahead of herself - there was still work to be done. Even though the deer was hobbled, it was running unpredictably, zigzagging between the predators - as befuddling as it was befuddled.

Crouching low, Fia tensed her muscles as the deer swung wide towards her, sprang forward - and cursed as her mouth closed on empty air. With a snarl as the deer zagged just out of range, Fia dug her paws in, leaning into the shift in her centre of gravity as she changed direction to follow the deer. But even a half-torso behind, a three-legged deer is little match for a starving wolf. With the white wolf herding it in one direction, forcing it to veer off a course that might have truly left the she-wolf in the dust, Fia waited a heartbeat, then two - then lunged forward, fierce satisfaction flooding her as she tasted blood. It wasn't as graceful a takedown as it might have been - thin as she was, it took an embarrassing moment of heaving her weight downward before the deer conceded to crumple to the ground beneath her. 

Fia pressed down until she felt the deer's fluttering flank grow stiller, quieter. Lifting her head, tongue licking her wet maw, Fia looked towards the other wolf. She paused for a moment, suddenly awkward - if he hadn't ripped the kill from her already, he likely wouldn't now, she thought. "Time for a meal?" she asked, a little shyly, budging over to make room for him.