Vigils Keep Side effects

RE: Vigils Keep, you catch a murder of crows scavenging through the pack caches!

Vigils Keep's caches weren't doing so well. First it had been coyotes, now it was crows. A whole lot of them, like a black swarm, pecking and tearing apart few reserves they had left. What next? Would the wolves of Driftwood Surge stomp over and empty them out again? Angels above, he hoped not.

By the time Elias rushed onto the scene the damage had already been done. He bared his teeth and lunged at them, hoping to spook them into flight, but they merely hopped out of reach and squawked to one another. As though they were laughing, mocking him. Wasn't it so funny? They'd eaten all his food and Elias couldn't do a thing about it, ha hahahah!

More than that, it appeared as though they weren't finished, that they still had room for more. Heck! He kicked off into a sprint as he hurried towards the next cache, which was closer to the treeline, beside one of the many stone walls. How many had they torn through? Could they be stopped? Heck heck heck!

Skidding to a stop, Elias watched as the murder of crows squabbled and feasted. If he didn't do something they'd be eaten out of house and home.

"That's enough!" He demanded, his voice stern and taut. A far cry from his usual, soft manner of speaking.

Ramiel ARCHER

I don't believe in no devil,'cause I done raised this hell

It was the noise that brought his attention to the problem at hand when he'd returned to the keep. Ramiel had gone out hunting since they had to work double time to replace what had been taken. Between the coyotes, and taking that deer as the peace offering they were running extremely low on food. He may be young but he wasn't stupid, he knew that if they didn't do something quickly things were going to get bad.

Except that seemed to have already happened. It was the largest gathering of crows he'd ever seen in his life. When he arrived on the scene with the rabbit he'd caught he saw Elias trying to stop them from continuing their assault on the cache.

He watched the blond wolf chase them and they flew a few feet before landing and going after some piece of meat that had been drug out. In fact there were scraps everywhere. A low growl left the yearling but was cut short when a cert brave thief tried to take his hard warned rabbit right from under his nose. He barked and lunged at the bird but it skittered out of reach before he could get a grasp on it. “I think we're going to need more than just the two of us,” he called to his packmate before trying to protect his prey from another assult.

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Table by Grey

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

Try as he might, it was impossible to get them to stop. He could bark and snarl as much as he liked, the crows paid no heed to his warnings. Attacking them in an attempt to prove he wasn't fooling around didn't work either. They knew he was there, so unless he got incredibly lucky there was no way he was going to be able catch one. Every time he stomped in to shoo them away the crows backed off, only to continue raiding the cache as soon as they were out of reach. Back and forth this went, with each passing moment they ate more and more. Panic began to set in as Elias realised that he was fighting a losing battle, he needed help and he needed it now.

Luckily, Ramiel appeared on the scene and seemed to have the same idea. Nodding in acquiescence, Elias tipped his head back and joined in the call. If they didn't get help soon there would be nothing left, in any of the Keep's caches.

Mature for swearing.

Ever since the incident by the lake involving that damned turtle, Neha had been taking it easy. Raised with a wealth of medical knowledge in mind, she was well off in tending to her wounds. The injury to her paw was still sore, scabbed over while the tissue beneath attempted to heal itself. For good measure, she kept close to the infirmary, should an infection flare up. There at least, the herbs she needed would be within easy reach.

Though tender, she was feeling well enough now to roam more freely, albeit with a slight limp. Her spirits, unsurprisingly, were sour. There was so much grief the Keep had gone through in such a short period of time. She was ready to snap at the slightest annoyance. Fate it seemed, just wasn't gonna let them have a break. The ruckus coming from the plethora of crows was downright maddening. Enough for her to emerge from the communal den and do something about it. The scene she came upon made her blood boil and her body quiver with anger. The filth were raiding their caches, picking them dry! And they seemed hellbent on draining each precious scrap of meat that remained. Elias was there, desperately trying to drive the crows away or catch one. Ramiel soon appeared, with a fresh catch of his own. From her hidden position deeper in the brush, she shook her head at their efforts...they were going about it all wrong. They were in plain view, charging openly. She, by contrast, deployed an entirely different method. "Miserable fuckin bastards..." She swore with bared teeth while marching out into the open, quite casually. Strategically, she headed to the nearest cache. Some distance from it, enough so that the crows would disregard her as a threat, she laid down. But the give away to her intent was all in her posture; legs tensed, body tight and ears pricked. With a flick of her eyes towards the males, she hissed. "Drive them towards me."

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

Ramiel ARCHER

I don't believe in no devil,'cause I done raised this hell

He’d watched as Elias tried to shoo the crows away and he’d tried to himself but it was just no use. There were more of the black birds than there were of them and since the little annoyances could fly and dodge them easily it was easy to see that they weren’t ever going to get anywhere. Even the rabbit that he’d just brought back had already been stolen despite his best efforts to protect it. This of course only angered the Archer further after all the effort he’d put into catching it in the first place. The yearling pushed through the birds to see just what kind of damage had been done to the cache. He could see there would be a lot of hunting in order to replace everything that had been taken from them.

Elias was in agreement with him that they needed reinforcements, even just having two or three other wolves, if they all came at the birds at once. Ramiel was sure that it would work, they just needed their packmates to show up. The blond man sent up a call for others to join them and in the meantime, “Maybe we can salvage some of it and between the two of us keep the birds off of it.”

Only moments passed before Neha appeared and it seemed she felt she knew just what to do. Ramiel wondered if this plan of her would work but there wasn't time to question it since they needed to get rid of the birds quickly. “When your ready,” he told Elias preparing to chase the birds toward the woman who had laid down next to the cache.

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Table by Grey

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

What a mess this had turned into. He was half tempted to just give in, clearly he was wasting both his time and effort. The caches were lost, they would have to start from the beginning and fill them up all over again. His lips turned down at the corners as doubt plagued his mind, what would Ellery eat tonight? He wouldn't allow her to go hungry, perhaps he could try fishing or- his ears snapped forward as Neha's voice caught his attention. Yeah, okay. Maybe that could work. Either way, three was better than two.

It sounded simple enough, but what did she intend to do? Surely she wouldn't be able to kill them all. Would the crows back off if they realised that they weren't immune from their teeth, was that the message Neha wanted to send to them? Maybe?

"Yep." He was as ready as he was going to be.

Digging his paws into the dirt, Elias pulled in a long deep breath then kicked off into a sprint, leading the charge against the invading corvids. Once again, the crows took flight, dodging and weaving, chattering and cawing amongst themselves. It was hard to steer a hurricane of birds, but as long as he sent them in Neha's general direction it would work, right? Gritting his teeth, he pushed on, hoping that Ramiel could manage the birds that brimmed around the edges. Teamwork was dreamwork, or so it was supposed to be.

As Elias charged, the crows took flight, scattering in all directions. She wasn't counting on that, but a small number of them did ultimately flutter her way. Muscles tensed, she waited until at least one of them was close enough. When one black feathered wing came within inches of her grasp, she sprung up from her flattened position, like a coiled snake striking it's prey. She was agile as she twisted mid jump, jaws clacking around the avian body with a crunch. With a few hard shakes, the crow was nothing more than a limp body. But it's many comrades were wiser, scattering in a flurry of black feathers.

She dropped her victim, spitting in disgust. She glared at the mob, seemingly just as big as ever. At first, her plan had seemed like a good idea. Use the element of surprise to take the crows by surprise. That went well. Her jaws clenched, lips peeled in anger and frustration. "We'll never get rid of them all this way, but I had to try." She grumbled, displeased with her failed plan of action. Allowing her anger to simmer, she lowered herself to her haunches, observing the chaotic scene with an eerie sense of contemplation. A new plan formulated in her head; one that made her facial features go dark...grim. She turned to Elias and Ramiel. "I can only think of one other way to get rid of them, guaranteed." She fixed them with a stern, level gaze. "But, you aren't going to like it."

 

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.

Ramiel ARCHER

I don't believe in no devil,'cause I done raised this hell

After Elias confirmed that he was ready to charge the crows he took off toward them. The goal to chase them in Neha’s direction thought he wasn't sure of her exact plan he did as she suggested. The young Archer was right behind his blond packmate though instead of going for the center of the birds he stayed on the edges. It was difficult but he tried to keep them contained pushing them toward the healer. The plan however, didn't quite work out as well as he thought it was supposed to. After the first bird was grabbed the crows scattered before swarming and returning. The mob only seemed to grow larger or maybe it was the second failed attempt that made it seem that way.

The plan hadn't worked but instead of being negative about it Ramiel chose a different way to go, “At least now we know and can try something else.” At this point it didn't matter much how long it took, the caches were pretty much destroyed. They would have to get rid of the crows before they could refill them anyway. Neha spoke again with another idea only apparently he and Elias weren't going to like it. A curious look was thrown at the woman, “Let's hear it if you think it will for sure get rid of them,” stated the young Archer. He wasn't sure they could be too picky about their methods at this point.

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Table by Grey

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

Elias didn't like any of it. This was all awful! They tried chasing them off, herding the flock away from their caches but nothing worked. The corvids simply swooped and soared out of the way, ducking and diving and pillaging the caches as though the Keep wolves weren't even there. If a bunch of birds wouldn't take them serious then what did that say? What did the other packs in the north think of them? Were they really that easy to shove aside?

It wasn't as if they had much of a choice, nor was time on their side. Whatever Neha wanted to do...well, it was better than nothing.

"I...I agree. I will do whatever needs to be done." He said, his ears pinned against his skull as he tried to block out the constant cawing and beating of wings.

He'd done some awful things before, what was stopping him from doing it again? Guilt and shame mostly, but he would try. Their livelihood was on the line, if they could salvage something, anything, from the caches it would be better than nothing. All those long hours of hard work wasted, torn to shreds before their very eyes.

The chaotic mass of crows she left to their own devices...for now. Turned towards Elias and Ramiel, with a plot brewing inside of her skull, the mob may as well not even exist. What were once youthful, delicate features now were chiseled and darkened. After they both expressed their openness to hearing her plan, she fixed them with a stern glare and uttered but one word. "Poison."

The lapse in silence she allowed was only for a moment or two, since she knew that neither wolf was likely to be nearly as knowledgeable in the field of herbs and medicine as she was. She set her jaw and elaborated further. "I grew up studying plants and the purposes they may serve. Both medicinal and toxic." The skin around her semi sunken eyes crinkled as she revealed what some may consider, a radical measure. "What little is left in the caches...we taint it. Leave it to the crows, then start over." In dire straits, sometimes controversial steps had to be taken. But poisoning their own caches? This was a step that the old Neha would have never even considered. But time had hardened her, stripped her of her innocence and left in it's wake a wolf with a darker side. As disturbing as her train of thought may be to some, it was perfectly sound to her. The caches were nearly depleted anyways, and with three wolves against dozens of crows, soon nothing would be left. And if they did return with a fresh catch, the opportunistic birds, as smart as they were, would just as soon dig that up again. They were the root of the problem. Eliminating them was the only solution. "I didn't think I would need it, but just in case, I stocked some Cowbane in the infirmary. It's highly toxic...it shuts down the nervous system. I know how to handle it safely enough to do what would need to be done. If you are on board, I will instruct you as we proceed."

Neha can often be found close to Aleister's side and therefore may appear in any of his threads.