Mountain of Dire how to hide your dragon

 For @Kjors. Territory Discovery and Random Event thread! All the things.
RE: A pair of lynxes have taken refuge in Serpent's Pass.

Karina’s paws tickled with excitement as they traversed the unfamiliar terrain, soil thin and rocky with hardly a blade of grass to be seen. In part, she was thrilled to be exploring the mountains for new herbs, collecting plants that required an arid climate and direct sunlight, which the redwood forest severely lacked. Mostly though, she was just happy to be out with Kjors, away from the scrutiny of her father and their packmates. Even their little slice of paradise Zephyr Rill was starting to feel boring and stuffy.. a wolf wasn’t made to spend all her days hiding underground!  Karina inhaled, reveling in the sharp scent of scrub pine nearby, which she knew would cure aches and pains when chewed. She and her companion weren’t here to collect scrub pine though—it was an excellent pain killer, but could be substituted with white fir bark in a snap, which they had plenty of in their home forest. No need to waste space trying to haul hunks of bark back to Kingsfall. Karina sniffed at the pineapple weed plant under her nose, remembering how she had prescribed it to her mother after her latest delivery. Pineapple weed was great for re-energizing a mother after birth, but it also helped with upset stomach and minor wounds and sicknesses. Karina pulled up the entire plant from the roots, trotting back to Kjors triumphantly. Where there was one pineapple weed plant there would be more, and she would carry home as much as she could fit between her jaws. Proud eyes filled with curiosity as they met Kjors’s golden single, and the girl cocked her head in silent question. She couldn’t very well speak with a mouth full of pineapple weed, but Kjors would understand that she was trying to ask how his errand was coming along. Earlier she had set him to the task of finding an absinthe plant—an incredibly useful herb that their home stores were lacking. She had explained that the plant grew in short, fluffy bushels with stubby stems and leaves with tiny white hairs. She wagged her tail, joy mounting even higher under her closest friend’s warm gaze.

Despite his general lack of knowledge concerning the realm of florae, Kjors had been happy to accompany his companion when she requested they go searching for medicinal items outside the pack's territory. It was not a forced pleasure, not was he simply bearing the task for the princess' own joy – exploration was something the dragon found great satisfaction in both the arduousness of travel, as well as the thrill of discovery. With the healer-in-training's efforts to help the dragon recover from his two failed attempts at dominance, he was feeling much better – in fact, he did not so much as limp at either a forward walk or a easy trot. Perhaps it was a bit slower going than his usual scouting expeditions, but his traveling comrade had come out with the purpose of collection. Not only was he keeping a promise made not so long ago, but the male had also been assigned a task. Karina wished him to collect a plant called absinthe. It was green, with yellow flowers – something that did not distinguish it from the thousands of other wildflowers the male had spotted on their little daytrip. Of course, he was loathe to admit he might not be the wolf for the job, and wisely kept his mouth shut as he continued to root around for the herb his partner sought. Given that he couldn't hunt just yet, it was wise for him to continue to contribute to the Hearthwood River pack in another manner. A soft noise drew his attention away from the particularly thick patch of plant life he'd been nosing through, the single sun in his skull rising to met the yearling's gaze. She, it seemed, was having better luck. One corner of his mouth turned upwards in a wry grin. "Ah ain't haven' yer luck, love. None a' 'em have those lil' white hairs y'mentioned. Maybe we ain' in th' right place? Should we keep lookin' fer somewhere drier?"

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

Karina grinned even wider through her mouthful of pineapple weed, her companion’s reply only exciting her more. Kjors might have assumed he was delivering bad news, but the longer it took them to find their absinthe plant the longer they would get to be out here, searching together. That was time well spent in Karina’s opinion. The girl tilted her head, considering Kjors’s suggestion that they were not searching a dry enough climate for absinthe. She flexed her paws, and the scorched dirt sifted easily between her toes. Dry wasn’t the issue here.. but what about elevation?  Karina’s blue gaze swept up to the Mountain itself, towering over the rest of the pass. Greenery dotted the mountainside here and there, likely growing out of the cracks in the rock that functioned to collect and store rainwater.  Karina tilted her head in the direction of the Mountain, eyes dancing with question. Was Kjors up for a little rock climbing? It would not be easy to pick their way up the side of the Mountain, and Karina would need her mentor’s eyesight to scout a path for the pair of them. There was no way she would be able to do it alone, with her cloudy eyes only revealing what lay wolfslengths ahead of her. The girl turned away from her companion to begin trotting jauntily ahead, stopping to look back only when she reached the base of the Mountain. She could detect the sharp, gingery scent of absinthe nearby, which was well known for its ability to drive away obnoxious insects. The girl growled through her mouthful of herbs to indicate to Kjors that they were close. Their herb was very likely hidden from view in the cliffs directly overhead. Now it was just a matter of getting up there, and her golden-eyed guide would have to lead the way.

 

I'm thinking moose carcass + hungry, territorial lynxes will also be hidden in the cliffs directly overhead.. ;)

   

    
 

This not talking thing, Kjors quickly decided, was not something he particularly cared for. Asocial as the dragon was, his general avoidance of the population of large did not indicate a desire to remain silent on his part. In fact, conversation, the power of words, was one of his favorite things in the living realm. But even as he fixed his charge with an arched brow – though the effect was negligible. With only a saucy look, the healer turned about and marched onwards, back towards the mountain with no signs of shying. Apparently, he'd been wrong in his assessment about where absinthe grew – but Karina clearly left no room for discussion. A heavy sigh puffed through the male's nose and he trailed after her without any further complaint. In fact, he paid little mind to where they were headed. Clearly the princess knew, if she sought to take the lead so boldly. Only at her growl did he leave the comfort of his own thoughts, scenting the air before he realized there was a pungent, unfamiliar smell. 'Ah,' he thought, realizing this was clearly what the medic wanted him to recognize. Sniffing again, he turned his head, trying to seek out the location – until he noticed the female's gaze. Up. The wolf sighed, expression unreadable as he surged ahead of his travel mate. It was clear to him that her foggy vision was handicapping her, and while his general lack of depth perception was little better in this situation, he'd not put it upon his treasure. Kjors began to pick his way through the rocks slowly, his pace a steady rock – he'd not risk harm to the yearling, nor did he seek to reinjure his leg as soon as it began to feel better. "How much d'we need?" he was in the middle of asking, when a pungent, much different smell made itself quite present. His ears swept back immediately. "Shit."

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

Silence is such a beautiful force; you can learn so much about a wolf just by how they react to silence.  Some, like Kjors, derive their power from the spoken word—deceiving and manipulating, and therefore influencing others-- and silence leaves these wolves frustrated and impotent. Karina, on the other paw, flourishes in silence, the lack of verbal distraction allowing her to more easily and quickly identify the emotional aura of a companion. As she followed Kjors, she watched his dragon rumble and flap its wings, as if to swat at an annoying insect interrupting its peaceful nap. Was the silence the nuisance he swatted at? A wry half-smile twitched across Karina’s full maw.  They picked their way slowly up the escarpment, climbing the narrow ridges and crags that jutted from the side of the great Mountain. Kjors stopped suddenly, releasing an explicative, and the pineapple weed tumbled from Karina’s mouth in her surprise. As the herb and its sickly-sweet scent dropped from her nose, Karina immediately perceived the danger Kjors had detected. The rotting scent of a kill hung in the air, riding the thermals that rose so quickly in the summer heat that the scents had been imperceptible to them from the base of the Mountain. Not only was there a carcass, but there were live predators as well, and not of the lupine variety. A territorial yowl echoed off of the wall of the Pass, starting the yearling’s heart pounding. She felt safe behind Kjors, but even so her hackles rose along with her adrenaline. A feline torso appeared atop a ledge overhead, accompanied by an irritated, busy aura. There was something distracted about her aura though, something familiar.. “I think she has cubs up there,” Karina said, realizing the lynx’s aura was similar to Kisla’s of late—even when Kisla gave something or someone else her conscious attention, her aura remained wrapped protectively around Inna and Lekalta. That was good news actually; even though they had pissed the cat off, she probably wouldn’t leave her cubs to come down and pick a fight with them. An answering yowl sounded from somewhere out in the Pass, causing the rest of Karina’s fur to stand on end. “Shit,” she echoed Kjors, knowing that the lynx’s mate would have no such qualms about chasing them down. His call had been distant, but mountain cats were much more adept at traversing this sort of terrain than wolfkind. He would be here soon. “Kjo, we have to go.” Perhaps her companion wasn’t too distracted to notice that her voice had taken on the flat, composed tone indicative of her entry into the Calm Place. Karina began quickly descending the ridgeline the way they came, occasionally employing a controlled slide in places where before the pair had placed careful footfalls. Speed was essential in order to make it back down onto the flat ground of the Pass where they could outrun the lynx or if worse came to worse, fight it off.  However, twisted paws or other injuries would effectively seal their fate, so due care would not be sacrificed for speed.

(This post was last modified: Jul 31, 2015, 07:23 PM by Karina.)

   

    
 

No sooner had the man swore than he was answered with a threatening yowl – it was much as he thought. The powerful scent of death was masked by something much thicker, much more present than the sick, sour air surrounding a corpse. It was meant to be there – make its presence known. With the failure with that musk, its owner roared to life, and Kjors knew well that their quest for absinthe would be abandoned her. An herb was not worth life or limb. Like this, he knew he could not defend his princess, not with his healing hock. One ear tipped sideways, and perhaps if there was more than an empty socket, the male might have shown some surprise at the curse that tumbled from Karina's lips. He'd not known the medic to use such harsh words, but the expression suitably described the situation they'd fallen into. Hissing softly, he whirled, trailing after the young priestess as he began her quick decent. "A father will naw let us leave so easily," he warned, ears rotating about his head like tiny radar dishes. The male moved as quickly as he was able, picking over rocks and around boulders when the male growled again, his presence rapidly approaching. They were on his known territory now, and at a sore disadvantage in that regard. Hackles rose reflexively, and the male move forward until he was right upon Karina's haunches. There would be no harm to befall the princess, not while he was on watch. "Quickly," he urged the youth. "If he's gonna force a fight, best we be on flat groun'." A pause, and Kjors continued. "If Ah tell ya t'run, y'best do tha', y'hear?"

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

Underground river chamber looks something like {this}, narrow but with a taller ceiling (4 meters or so). The end of the chamber/river where it surfaces in Dragonveil is almost unnoticable from the outside, like {this},

Kjors’s urgent tone pushed Karina to move even faster, and each time she leapt down to a lower perch she could feel her companion drop drown a half step later, directly on her heels. As they descended, the older wolf gave her another instruction; she was to leave him behind if that’s what it came down to. Despite their flight the weight of that order was not lost on Karina, and her steps faltered and she turned around to look at her mentor with an incredulous expression. She might have even argued with the man had the rocks beneath her paws not shifted suddenly. ”Wait—!” she cried as Kjors was leaping down behind her, but her warning came too late. As Kjors’s body weight dropped down beside Karina the ground shifted again, opening to swallow the pair into the depths of the mountain. Karina’s flailing limbs met only air for the briefest of moments and she released a bark of sheer terror. Before she even had the chance to bark again she plunged into a body of chilly water. She was too shocked to even remember how to swim at first, and the princess sank down to the bottom of the underground pool. When her feet brushed against the floor of the cave her instincts kicked back in, and she pushed off the bottom in order to bring herself to the surface of the water. The girl coughed to expel water from her nose and lungs, drifting along with the gentle pull of the underground river. She struggled over to the side of the river, pulling herself up onto a narrow, muddy bank.   Too flustered to even shake off, the dripping-wet yearling looked wildly around at her surroundings, which were illumined by a small hole in the ceiling— the hole she had fallen through, she realized. “Kjo! Are you okay?”  Karina’s heartbeat raced as her voice echoed down the dim, narrow chamber making her feel trapped and claustrophobic.

   

    
 

The warning came seconds too late – the black knight was only two steps behind his princess and hopped down onto the fragile earth, unaware of the peril his companion had sensed only a moment ago. Kjors didn't even have the chance to curse before the ground beneath them opened up like a giant mouth, swallowing them down below the dirt and into the mountainside. His mind raced and his limbs flailed for a moment – it felt like an eternity all the same – before his body hit a body of water. For a moment, all the one-eyed male could do was sink, stunned both by the fall and the chilly grip of the underground river. A brush against his body seemed to awaken his mind once more and the wolf righted himself, snorting violently as he paddled after his student. Once she beached, he followed suit, hauling himself upon the mucky bank before shaking out his swarthy coat. Kjors seemed to double in volume, his thick coat standing out in all directions as he cast a weary eye around the atrabilious cavern. "Well," he sighed, eye slowly seeking out the princess. "Don' think th' cat's gonna be followin' us down here." A silver lining, he supposed, though the male clearly wasn't pleased to have fallen down below the surface. Shaking himself out again, he pushed forward, reaching to nudge Karina's shoulder as he urged her onwards. "C'mon. River's gotta go somewhere, yeah? We'll follow it outta here…an' reassess what t'do after tha'."

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de - Table by PuppyThief

Relief swelled in the yearling’s chest as her eyes settled on Kjors, looking wet and none too pleased but otherwise unharmed. Just as her mentor commented on their pursuer, an enraged yowl filled the cavern and echoed down the narrow chamber. Terror filled the princess’s crystalline eyes as she looked up at the tear in the ceiling, where she could see a flurry of activity taking place as the incensed lynx paced around the aperture. The feline’s movement cast dancing shadows around the chamber, heightening the girl’s anxiety. She tore her gaze away from the light at the older wolf’s nudge, blinking at his suggestion. After a moment of comprehension the girl nodded, taking a step in the direction that the underground river was flowing. Her legs felt unusually heavy, and Karina finally remembered to shake.   The extra water weight shed, the much lighter Karina went from frozen in place to charging down the cavern. Every echoing yowl spurred her forward, even as she slipped around on the slick mud of the cavern’s floor. Their narrow beach faded away until the pair was forced to wade in the murky flow, and as the pair traveled they plunged deeper and deeper into the darkest dark the girl had ever experienced. Karina’s surroundings were so devoid of light that her eyes actually ached as they desperately sought out any trace of illumination. The child’s heartbeat was still wild, and she was growing more terrified with every step as the waterline steadily rose up her chest and to her neck. It almost felt unreal when her eyes detected a sliver of light up ahead.   The girl moved forward as quickly as the drag of the water would allow, barking with glee as she reached the illuminated spot in the river. Contact with the rocky cave wall caused the girl to hesitate as she realized that she would have to submerge almost completely in order to duck out of the cavern and reach the glorious sunlight. There would hardly be room for her to stick her nose out above the surface, and it was hard to tell how far she would have to travel like that.. it looked like it could be anywhere from several footsteps to several wolfslengths. “I.. I’m scared..” Karina squeaked, finding her friend’s golden eyes in the tiny amount of light they were allowed. She trembled as a final, distant yowl echoed down the chamber.

 

(This post was last modified: Aug 22, 2015, 04:43 PM by Karina.)