Neverwinter Forest a business of ferrets

set a few days or so after this thread - needle is trespassing! tags for visibility: @Stark Drakaryn @Solharr @Callyope

Upon returning from a hunt to the spot where she had left her gored warden, Needle had discovered—to much horror and dismay—that Stark had been taken by other wolves.

Once the panic had ebbed to resignation, she wondered if he was already dead, his body having been taken to feed the pack of those who had found him. This was difficult for her to accept, however.

Needle had tried to care for him! Tried to keep him warm and his wound clean, but, still he faded. And still, she could not accept the possibility that he may be gone forever.

Her search for him was prolonged by fresh snowfall; she tracked the bodysnatchers until the foreign scents became overwhelming in numbers, and she retreated in cowardice.

How am I supposed to fight that many wolves to find him?

Of course, a howl might have accomplished her goals, but Needle was much too immature to undervalue her ability to sneak. She spied on the patrols of the forest for several days, and wisely chose the time of her invasion: in the twilit hours around sunrise, after the first dawnwatcher(s) had passed.

Except, getting past the borders unseen was the easy part. Picking up Stark’s scent and locating him or his remains was the task at paw now…

replying to this as luhtar because i miss my needle content

Luhtar’s nose twitched as he caught the faintest whiff of something amiss on the wind. It wasn’t a scent he recognized, and that alone was enough to set his fur prickling. He had been out patrolling the borders, his heavy frame moving deliberately through the snow-dappled forest, when the trail first snagged his attention.

The intruder was careful, but not careful enough. The snow betrayed even the lightest of steps, and the scent of her—sharp, foreign, anxious—lingered in the crisp morning air.

His yellow eyes narrowed as he paused, lifting his broad muzzle to confirm the direction of the scent trail. It was faint, weaving erratically deeper into Forneskja’s territory.

It didn’t take long for the stranger to come into view, her dark figure slipping between the trees. She moved with an unpracticed stealth, her focus too divided between her search and her surroundings to notice the shadow closing in on her flank. Luhtar was upon her surprisingly quick for a brute of his stature, his frame blocking her path. His tail rose, rigid with authority, and his ears pressed forward, sharp against the backlight of the sunrise. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from his chest as he planted his paws firmly in the snow.

"You." His voice was low, accented. "You not belong here."