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Dulcea generated a random number between
1 and 10 ...
7!
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 Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 4:58 pm
Margulis whispered her thanks to Ngdere, giving him a nuzzle before she continued on with the group. In a way she was glad he wasn't coming along, the poor creature was traumatized enough. She hoped one of the leopards would stay back to see him home safely. He'd done good things for them so far, they owed him safety at least. As they approached the water she noted that her mouth felt unnaturally dry and she leaned down to take a quick drink, her eyes scanning the shore as she tried to keep from sinking into the mud. That last thing they'd want is to get caught unaware in terrain like this.
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Mimsey generated a random number between
1 and 20 ...
14!
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:03 pm
As they investigated the still waters of the pond, it became clear that something very large had frequented the western bank. There were deep pocks in the mud, making tiny little pools that swirled hypnotically with dark water. An tried not to get lost in them as they determined what direction the beast had moved from. And whether or not it was recent.
"It rained this morning," Veru mused looking at the sky. "Mud like that might be able to take a few rains, but it couldn't be that old."
"Lets hope it was recent then," An said. Her eyes followed the path from the mud, towards the brush ahead. Several branches had been snapped, and a few of the long dangling trees had the leaves stripped from their lower rungs. "Its too bad we don't know what time the actual attacks have been happening."
"I wonder if murder is the sort of thing you can keep on schedule," Veru mused dryly. "At least we are not lacking for targets if he's out hunting."
Somehow that wasn't very comforting.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:18 pm
Haki kept up a walking pace that matched Lani and Ndege's. He considered rolling around in the mud, but was more concerned on being left behind again. So he resisted the temptation of rolling around and looking like part of the ground itself.
The leopardess returned to the trees as well. She was one of the ones in the leopard group who wasn't too overly familiar with old Ngdere. As such, she nodded to him before she left, but nothing more. She intended to help keep the land walkers safe after all.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 6:25 pm
Margulis couldn't help herself but to laugh a little at Veru's comments. It was a morbid thought, but he had a point. Her tracking abilities were poor at best, she'd leave that to the more adept, but she had found a few more plants along the way. Now she held a clump of them between her teeth, as delicately as she could, on the chance they might need them. They were rudimentary, but better than nothing. If anything truly serious happened they might at least help get everyone back breathing to the real healers.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 6:45 pm
He nodded, and shrugged slightly. It didn't matter that Veru seemed to have misinterpreted Spaki's point about the graveyard, since they were still doing exactly what he thought they should, and continuing their search. Evidence of the elephants rage wasn't going to get this problem solved.
He followed along, beginning to feel they were getting closer. "The water's still moving in it's prints." He pointed out, quietly. "It probably hasn't been gone that long." Otherwise the water would have stilled. The realization was somewhat troubling. If the elephant wasn't far, what if it had found them first?
"We don't have time to dig a big enough ditch to trip up an elephant, even if we could herd it the right way." Spaki said, as he looked out at the surroundings. "If it comes to a fight, we should try to attack from behind, or get on its back. Don't stay in front of it for long." He was bringing this up because, very likely, they didn't have much time left.
-
Before moving along, Kimaji checked that the root and feather given to her by the hyena was still securely tangled up in her necklace. Fortunately, they were still there! Figuring she might need to use it soon, since everyone was talking about fighting, and fighting meant injury and emergency, she gingerly began to untangle it, then opted for holding it in her mouth again. The feather looked a bit worse for wear, but... well, nothing she could do about that!
Having lagged a bit behind, she scampered along to follow the others.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:31 pm
Hel continued to follow along unhappily, for once keeping his comments to himself. His feet were muddy, his mane clung in odd places, and he was hungry. He tried to listen to their group's leader as they neared what he was pretty certain would be their doom.
He did however, wrinkle his nose at the thought of more digging.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:26 am
There were signs of an elephant everywhere, signs of damage and signs of what could either be done out of rage or due to simple size. Baatar swallowed, this was all seeming a bit more real now. He followed the group but remained silent, peering into the pool of water that they had found. He smiled at Verus comment, but it soon fell as the realisation began to set in. They could be in serious trouble here.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:58 am
Pam was discreet in his concious dismissal of the many leopards' opinions and actions and his eyes saw right through the graceful felines when they entered his line of sight. He was quickly growing in confidence now that they had an obvious trail to follow, a purpose and a muddy ground that felt amazingly familiar to the swamp-dweller. A few of the lions seemed to be taking charge and leading the way, something Pam was perfectly comfortable with.
The moving water was somewhat disturbing though and the pale lion wondered if it was their target that had caused the many ripples in the liquid surface - and if the group would soon become the target instead.
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Mimsey generated a random number between
1 and 20 ...
3!
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:07 am
Evidence seemed to be mounting that the trail was recent. As the group continued through the disheveled path, more thick footprints in the soft soil could be found. Some of it was mud, made slippery as the clay refused to dry on top. It made for perfect imprints.
...if not a bit slippery.
"I'm mucking this up," An muttered to herself in a rare moment of annoyance. She tried her best to move off the path, standing on the roots of one of the large trees that lined it. From the elevation, she could see some of the prints more clearly. "Look, he spun around a bit here. Maybe the ground was slippery to him too?"
Veru gave an experimental push at the earth. The ground sunk a bit, but not so much that it seemed an elephant would have trouble walking. Then again, Veru doubted that all the force in his shoulders could exert the weight a creature like that might make. "Ground seems firm enough, but it might have dried some."
"What could he have been doing here?" she mused aloud. Some of the trees had knicks from tusks, no doubt caused by the large creature moving in such a tight space. There was plenty of room for the elephant to walk through, but not so much for him to easily circle. Not without knocking down a few of the smaller trees in the process. "We need to off the trail to get our bearings. Too many of our prints are getting in the way."
Veru was still pushing at the ground. "Prints where? You're the only one over there."
An paused for a moment. "I must have..." She hopped slowly from where she was standing, hovering her paw on top of one of the imprints in the mud. The expression on her face would have told anyone that they didn't fit. "Its not mine, its too small."
Veru's tail started to twitch. "It seems like we're not the only ones hunting then."
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:45 am
That was precisely Sandor's point, he thought as he overheard two lions who acted as if they were in charge of everything discussing the mucking up of tracks. There were entirely too many people along on this hunting trip and they couldn't help but get in each other's way and ruin any trail that they could have possibly followed.
At least the female had noticed what she was doing in time to avoid messing up what might be their first useful clue.
Sandor had been willing to go along with the idea that they might be dealing with an enraged or grief-stricken elephant, but he honestly had a hard time imagining an elephant was the culprit. It seemed more likely to him that some sort of clawed and fanged creature was involved. Something that would leave a smaller paw print than that female, so probably not a lion.
Sandor chuckled to himself. He was confident that he could handle anything smaller than a lion with ease.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:50 am
Mtalia circled back down to the group and perched in a nearby tree. Having seen the trail from above made it obvious, but its nuances would not be seen as clearly without coming down. "I doubt it was for water," she said eyeing the ground. It hardly looked like it would have made a good water hole lately... Though as Veru had said, it could have dried somewhat lately.
"Those smaller tracks... Could be from someone attacking him? But why would he spin with just one attacker," she mused aloud, though more to herself than anything. What would be smaller than a lion that would be bold enough to attack an elephant? If her line of reasoning was right- she was keeping an open mind for herself, and kept otherwise silent as she listened for anything someone else could propose.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:01 am
Maybe he was looking for someone? Haki suggested. Assuming it was "he" after all. It could very well be a "she" as well, but Haki felt more towards that it was a boy. He lifted his paw in the sticky mud and looked at his miniture paw print that was now imprinted into the ground. "Or maybe someone was trying to mess up the trail?" Haki felt it was safe to assume that the paw prints could easily be covered over with more mud, or washed away.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:20 am
"Do elephants...mark their territory?" Endesha asked as an after though, pausing to examine one of the marks in the trees. She reared up, brushed a rough paw across it. It was deep and thick, much too large to be a claw. A tusk would certainly fit that description. At this point, Endesha was expecting to see the big, grey herbivore on the horizon.
She twisted her head to look around for her brother and friend and then returned her attention back to An and he conversations going on. "Following or just passing by, perhaps?" Her tail flicked. "Or maybe one of the locals is trying to track its movements to make sure they stay out of its path?"
"Sounds reasonable." Jemadari responded. "Still, I think we should be wary. I don't think this beast could be too much further, not with the ground the way it is."
"Find water." Endesha interrupted. "And surely we'll find this elephant?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:23 am
Amali followed along the whole way quietly, staying near Endesha and keeping his eyes open-- but he couldn't imagine it would be easy to be ambushed by an elephant. Unless it knew they were there or that it was being hunted, he supposed, but that didn't sound realistic until he heard An and Veru discuss that perhaps there were other hunters. So he was more vigilant, but still quiet.
He hesitated at the conversation between his sister and Jemadari but ultimately nodded to show his support.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:02 pm
Saiorse gave the muck a long look, wheels turning in her head. "If we find something big, we might want to think about leading it back here." The lioness seated herself, neatly away from the mud. She wasn't what you would call obsessive, but the lioness took pride in her fur. Who liked walking in mud in the first place? "The less traction the thing can get, the less power it will be able to use. With our numbers, we could likely bring it down in it." Her nose wrinkled at the idea, but the advantage would be a good one. "Take it down like a waterbuffalo bull. Bring it down from behind, and break the spine." For all she might have tried, the lioness couldn't whipe the smile from her face. Yes, the stupid maned wolf had been an annoyance, but this was progress. Eager to move on, she walked over to An, examining the prints for herself. "...We can't leave out the possibility that these prints might be a part of the problem, rather than the solution. More hunters would be dandy, but more.." She hesitated, unsure what to call whomever had made the small prints, before giving up on the matter with a shrug. "...monsters are gonna be a problem."
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