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Within the fey-ridden Darkmoon Wood, a council of noble animals meets at the behest of the wolf, Draketh. This meeting takes place in the fading light of day. Already, the woods are darkened and the trees cast great shadows. In attendance, besides yourselves, are: Draketh, the representative of the local wolves, who has called the meeting, Azune, the deer, Nale, the otter, and Jurisper, the field mouse.
"Thank you all for coming," Draketh begins. "I would not have called you here unless my business were urgent. I assume that many of you have noticed the increased activity among the two-legs of late?"
Indeed, human activity has greatly increased in the last week or so, with bands of angry humans entering the forest by day.
"The two-legs are hunting wolves," Draketh growls. "Already, four members of my pack have been taken, caught unawares. We have grown warier, but the two-legs are persistent."
Azune looks unconcerned. "Forgive my callousness, Draketh, but this sounds like a problem for your pack, not the rest of us," she says.
"And what do you think will happen when all the wolves have been eliminated, Azune? Who will protect you from the two-legs, or the worgs?"
"He's right," Nale nods. "This problem affects all of us. If the two-legs are killing all the wolves, then something must be wrong. Any of us could be next. What would you have us do, Draketh?"
Draketh sighs. "We must discover why the two-legs are doing this. Does anyone speak their tongue?"
Jurisper, the field mouse, raises her paw. "I can understand the language of the two-legs, but I cannot do this alone. I will need help."
"Very well," Draketh replies, "Are there any volunteers?"
As was his way, Starwatcher had silently taken a perch up in the branches above the meeting place. He listens carefully to the discussion, thinking on what he has observed. The 'humanoids'--he will not call them two-legs, for of course he himself has only two legs--had been more active of late. There must be a reason they hunted wolves. Perhaps they mistook Draketh's pack for foes? Perhaps the cunning Worgs had attacked them to trick them into slaying the wolves of the Darkmoon Wood?
He would have to go and see and hear to learn the truth.
"I speak the tongue of humans," he hoots from above. "I will go."
Scyllaes was lying curled up, her mass packed neatly into a smaller pile. She was listening intently to the discussion, hearing the voices of all the 'alphas' in the forest, leaders in their own right.
As she's lying still, many would not notice her at first, until there too close.
I believe Azune is right, it seems like something only hurting the wolves. But there are probably deeper problems at the heart of it. It could unintentionally hurt the rest of us, as well...
As first the field mouse Urisper and later Starwatcher the owl, volunteered to inquire about why the wolves are hunted down and what might be the cause of this. Interesting indeed. I would like to find out what's happening as well. It could be worthwhile.
The serpent raise her head and part of her body up to get the attention, a nearby group of rabbits make themselves scarce as she does so. And then in a slow deliberate voice she makes herself heard.
"I would like to volunteer asss well. I do not know the human sspeech, though I wass brought up along the outsskirtss of their town. I sstill know my way around thossse partss. I agree with Azune that it lookss to be a problem only for the wolvess, but Nale iss right. Thiss could have unforesseen conssequencess for the whole wood. There is a balansse that musst be maintained."
Scyllaess looks around at the other creatures present, wondering who else might volunteer. Probably not many more mice, rodents or other snacks.
Clalaak had stood proudly towards the center of the meeting, listening intently to the goings-on of the forest. As the call for volunteers goes out, pride swells in his chest. This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for, to protect the people of the forest in the name of the Dawn Eagle. He flaps his wings and squawks loudly, "I shall volunteer. I have had no reason to learn the human's speech, but my talons are sharp and blessed with the righteous might of the Dawn Eagle, Easivra, long may his name ring with song and praise. To this venture, I lend my strength of beak and claw and wing."
Hoyleberry flinches slightly as the bird flaps its wings. He attempts to adjust his manner of sitting so that the flinch is hidden in a larger movement of repositioning. When the eagle has stopped, he glances at the owl who already said he would go. Oh droppings! Two predator birds? he thinks. Do I really want to do this? Nethys give me strength.
Standing on his hind legs, Hoyleberry chitters to get the crowd’s attention. ”I speak Common,” the skunk says. ”I’m willing to investigate this problem. And it is a problem! If the wolves disappear it will hurt us all.” He returns to standing on his four legs and shakes his body to ruffle his fur.
”Benquoil has a druid friend. One time, as the group sat around the campfire, the druid told about what happened to a mountain where the wolves were hunted to elimination. Soon the deer population was higher than ever and eating so much the bushes and trees were practically stripped bare of leaves. Many deer and other plant-eaters died from starvation.”
Hoyleberry waves a paw at Jurisper. ”I’ll come with you.”
A somewhat scruffy, one-eyed raccoon stands up on it's hind legs and speaks.
"The two-legs are dangerous." Boondocks says, gesturing to his scarred, empty eye-socket.
"I grew up living in their town and I've been chased by them more than a few times."
"It could be that some of my four-legged friends still in their town might be able to give us a clue as to why they're hunting the wolves."
"We should go closer to the two-leg town and find a group of their hunters to watch and follow."
"None can match the eyes of an eagle. I can watch from the skies, see what the wingless two-legs do."
"Indeed we sshould go find one of their hunter groupss. Boondockss and I, we know the wayy."
Scyllaess mentions to the rest.
"Though, perhapss. Draketh knowss of a particular area where hiss kin iss cornered the mosst. We could sstart there."
Starwatcher listens silently to the others. The suggestion to go where Draketh's wolves have been attacked seems wise, so long as the group stays out of sight. Though infiltrating the human nest and listening to them there might be better--it is possible that the humans would speak about their purpose there, while on the hunt they might be too focused to talk of such things.
Having no real preference between the two options, Starwatcher remains silent, content to follow the consensus of the group.
Hoyleberry’s white-tipped tail twitches. By Nethys, this is beginning to sound like an adventure, he thinks. He looks at the angle of the sun, knowing twilight is nearly here.
”Sometimes I sneak into the town at night,” he admits. He points his snout at Scyllaess. ”I agree. I think we should start with where the humans are hunting. Draketh, is there a pattern to their hunting? Expanding from a particular hillside, or in a specific direction? Can we talk to any of the ones who weren’t taken? Were the humans using snares. I almost got caught in a food snare once...well more than once.”
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Draketh responds solemnly. "Yes, they were primarily taken from the edge of the wood, nearest the two-leg den [town], to the south. They dare not venture too deep into the forest. If you wish to speak to the members of my pack who have survived attacks, I can certainly arrange that. They did not use snares. They came with claws [weapons] of metal. They hunt mostly by night in large packs."
"Let's go to the edge of the woods and wait for them." Boondocks suggests.
Clalaak gives a firm nod, ”Let us be gone, then.”
Starwatcher nods as well. He agrees with the consensus to go and observe the hunters first. Silently he spreads his wings and begins to fly through the forest.
"Agreeed." Let us set out."
Scyllaess slithers forward, away from the clearing in the forest, scaring away some smaller woodland creatures.
As the group makes their way to the edge of the forest, nearer to the human settlement. Scyllaess calls out to the others.
"Thiss will be a ssimple obsservation yess? I would asssume that we sshould ssplit off from each other when we get closse. We are a bold collection to be sseen together."
"If we're seen .... act like you're trying to eat me." Boondocks tells Scyllaess.
"Just don't try too hard..."
”Or you could have a mock fight,” Hoyleberry suggests. ”I’m going to do my best to hide and be sneaky. Sometimes my fur is so striking, people notice it right away. It’s practically enchanting.”
"We need only be close enough to help one another. No closer," Starwatcher states, trusting the implication of his statement (that if they spread out a bit humanoids would not think them associated with one another) would be clear to the others.
Boondocks moves through the undergrowth to get closer to the humans and hear what they are saying.
Hoyleberry stops for a moment, looking side to side to see where to attempt to hide. He takes two steps to the right then lies down, pretending to be asleep. He hopes none of the men, if they see him, will question why a skunk is sleeping out in the open and not in its den. He slowly breathes, attempting to listen closely to their chatter.
Starwatcher also stealthily approaches the two-legs. He listens quietly to their words, trying to think of what reason they could have for this hunt.
He finds their words odd. An unnatural wolf? What did they mean by this? Had someone, perhaps, seen Draketh without his knowledge and drawn incorrect conclusions about the noble wolf? Or perhaps his warg adversaries were enacting a strategem by which they hoped to eliminate their rival.
He had to know more. Silently the owl takes a perch in the trees above where the two-legs will soon pass, hoping they will say something about the intended quarry of their hunt beyond it being 'unnatural'.
Though not tremendously stealthy, Clalaak's eyes were keen enough that he could soar abovehead without attracting suspicion and still keep tabs on the situation.
Rolling into a ball in a pile of nearby leaves, Tamimay hides from the 2 legs.
Scyllaess slithers into the undergrowth, hiding amongst fallen leaves and twigs, aiming to get close enough to the two-legs to see what they're doing. She can't really understand the human language, but she makes it a point to at least see what they're up to.
Boondocks moves to get a line of sight on the humans.
Does he recognize any of them from town? How are they armed?
Hoyleberry shakes his fur as he rises from his pretend sleep. It makes more sense if I’m hunting, looking for some bugs, rather than sleeping. He starts sniffing along the ground, at the base of trees, and in hollowed logs as he tries to stay in range of the humans’ voices, listening to them. Maybe I can follow their trail back to their village. Would it matter knowing where they live exactly? he thinks. Though marking their den would be easier for one of the birds to do. He attempts to move parallel to the hunters about twenty feet away.
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The two-legs are armed with a variety of gear, most of which makes little sense to any of you, though you do recognize them as implements used in killing, as opposed to farming. They gleam in the daylight. You don't specifically recognize any of them.
Starwatcher waits for the people to pass, then tries to gather the group back together.
"They seem to think a twisted wolf dwells here," he states.
"They cannot defeat what they cannot find," Starwatcher points out. "If it were lured to them..."
Clalaak swoops down to meet with the rest of the group, "A fine plan, Starwatcher. I can try to track the wolf. Nothing can escape an eagle's eyes."
"Maybe the others of the forest folk have seen it."
"If it is here in the forest, then it must be hunting something."
"Esspecially ssomething like a twissted wolf. Otherss in the foresst would have notissed."
The serpent coils itself up again, ponderingly slapping its tail on the ground.
"It might be persshance that thesse humanss kill wolvess becausse they kill anything that ressembless it, wouldn't you agree Sstarwatcher?"
The snake calls out towards his owl companion in the trees.
She flicks her tongue in and out of the air to try and pick up an unknown scent, similar to wolves from around this particular site. Perhaps it has been here before.
"Does anybody know any deer? They probably keep track of the wolves in the woods." Boondocks asks.
"Hey Berries....."
The raccoon becomes distracted ....
"It might be persshance that thesse humanss kill wolvess becausse they kill anything that ressembless it, wouldn't you agree Sstarwatcher?"
"That is what they said," Starwatcher confirms.
He considers the situation in silence for a moment, debating what more to say. At length he adds, "It is very odd that Draketh does not know of this."
Tamimay considers for a moment. I could use my magic of the ghost sounds to help lure them away. Sound can be deceiving. He shakes to relieve the small leaf debris from his spines.
"Would it be a good idea to make multiple wolf tracks and lead the humans into the wilderness?" Hoyleberry asks. It looks at his own tracks. "Of course, I don't think I could make wolf tracks."
Thinking, he scratches the ground. "Tamimay, that is an excellent idea. I couldn't do that. Do you know magic? Do you pray to Nethys?"
He looks at his companions, "So do some of us want to find the twisted wolf, and others lure the humans away? I don't know which would be more dangerous."
My magic is not drawn from the gods but more "natural" in nature. The tiny mammal states simply.
"I believed the conssenssuss wass that we sshould find thiss unnatural wolf and lead thesse humanss towardss it. In any casse, we musst find it firsst."
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Clalaak takes to the skies, surveying the area to find a sign of the unnatural wolf.
"Oh nature magic!" Hoyleberry replies to Tamimay. "That's wonderful. Magic is so...oh what's the word? There are different types, like animals being better at some tasks than others."
The skunk nods at Scyllaess, "Ah, thanks for clearing that up. So we lead them to it so they stop killing the wolves in their clumsy fear.
"I think silver weapons are used against were-creatures...those beings that are half-two-legs and half-animal. Maybe we are looking for a were-wolf. At least what the humans think they are looking for."
Hoyleberry waves a paw as Calaak departs.
Starwatcher also looks for any odd tracks or the like, though he makes sure not to draw too close to the rest or draw attention while doing it.
Boondocks keeps watch on the humans, following along behind them.
Scyllaess tries to track the scent she finds hanging in the air, flicking her forked tongue in and out to taste the scent, find out where it goes, where the concentration is stronger.
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