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The group had spoken and so Krima followed. She could not see what the others saw and she valued her life enough to know not to argue over such a thing. Krima trusted the judgment of others enough, and Viltalta had spoken.

The light doe was quite pleased to see Aldwyn and trotted her way up to him and Ralir. A few individuals were voicing their concerns about wandering the barrens at night, and she understood the sentiment. Usually, she was all cozy in her little home and fast asleep, not out wandering. Still, they were a good group and she didn’t think anything would try and get them. Plus, surely a few of the bucks and does knew how to fight if it came to that? Personally, she still had some good energy going and didn’t feel the need to rest.

And then Ralir was mentioning dire rats and Krima was trying to blink and see what was going on in the darkness. Her ears swivelled and she stayed close to the two bucks, she’d have to remember to thank Ralir later on for seeing them and warning the others. Still, her nervousness was creeping in and she was almost trotting while staying next to Ralir and Aldwyn.

“Calm down,” Amoli said, gripping Krima’s mane as she bounced up and down on her back. “You’re going to drop all of your supplies if you don’t stop."

Krima felt very useless at the moment, her powers wouldn’t be able to help her here at all. A drizzle wouldn’t do anything to the rats except give them a nice little bath. She did, however, try to calm her nerves by trying to take up a similar stance as Ralir. She’d chosen this after all, what was she expecting? A bit of difficult terrain and op they’d made it? No, there was bound to be some fighting at this point.

“I’ll make sure your things stay secured so don’t worry and focus on the task at hand,” Amoli mentioned while peering around her shoulder to see if she could also spot the rats.

Ayala was the first to perk up at that Dire Rats were heading in their direction. These beasts roamed where they wanted, pretty much bullying other creatures of the Barrens. Devouring vegetation left this wasteland with very little moisture seemingly uninhabitable. Normally the mere sound of one cautioned the creatures to avoid their presence. Now, it seemed this particular party was destined to receive a troupe of those things. Pausing in her thoughts, she burrowed into Tsarine's fur with her belly for support. It was mind-boggling how he'd encountered a Cat Beast long before and Dire rats growing up.

The inkling was puzzling indeed.

"Tasrine..." she spoke strongly letting her voice vibrate into him, "I'm not leaving your side in anything regardless of what's to come. You survived all those dangerous events as a foal. I know you can prove yourself in this situation as well".

Ayala felt assured her bite and tail would come in handy should one perceive her for a chew toy. Knowledge from living in the Barrens was her best defense,

Tsarine was first learning about Dire Rats via this adventure. His body shook with fear but he also knew he was stronger then a mere rat perking his on ears he responded, "I knew I head something coming...."
The younger-minded noulicorn knew deep down this was a group effort so his eyes had to be sharp. His presence wasn't a foal but a fully grown buck. Though he was scared, he resonated from Ayala's strength as she burrowed close to him for comfort. This was her world cueing him knowledge she'd probably tangled with at least one of them before.

From a short distance deep under a rock, they were being watched carefully. In only a few minutes the watcher popped its head up from beneath its hiding place. Blinking with a tilt of the head the shimmery markings of its body caught Tsarine's attention. This wasn't a Dire rat, more so another Scuttle Scoot? This one was much bigger than his companion currently settled on his withers. Flicking an ear, holding his breath he kept quiet turning his attention back to the incoming menace.


Tsarine & Ayala WC: 361

In the corner of his eye, Ralir could see Krima buckling down, a jackhop he didn't recognize on her back. He'd have to ask about that. On the other side, there was steady, dependable Aldwyn, who kept his stance. Ralir didn't know what he was planning, but he seemed like the sort of buck who thought his actions through, so Ralir wasn't too worried about him, especially since he mentioned that he'd seen them, too.

Other nouls in the group were taking notice, too: that one grumpy older buck, with a jackhop atop him who slipped into motion like the pair had experience working together in these situations; a grey buck Ralir didn't know who was just making his way toward the rest of the pack; a lilac who'd discussed his infrared; a pale buck with a scuttle scout, both nervously observing the ground... It was Viltalta's words that kicked Ralir into gear, though. Something wrong?

Ralir's eyes found the rats again easily. Viltalta was right. He'd never seen so many dire rats before, but it was really not like them to attempt to approach such a large group of nouls. Even with this many dire rats, it'd have been smarter to approach one single noul. He used the leverage from his crouch to spring forward - but not in attack. He dashed to the side once he was free of the group, taking a path toward the back of the group - where he knew the ground was definitely safe, but could get a vantage point free of other nouls. (Also, theoretically, if he was at the edge of the pack rather than the center, then the vanguards of the rat pack who could've been aiming for Ralir would be able to hurt fewer people - though it was unclear how much reason they had right now.)

"Hey!" he shouted in the rats' direction, just to see whether they'd even respond to that sort of distraction. He had the confidence that he could move quickly if they did.

He didn't know what in particular he was looking for. Were they running from something else? They'd come up from underground, so perhaps the terrain...or was the sound of their tiny, scurrying feet changing as the rats approached? Did they want something that the group had? As far as Ralir knew, they had a preference for ruining Homewood vegetation; the group was carrying a lot of supplies, but they were intended for a long journey, so there were certainly better places to scavenge. It was a pity that dire rats didn't seem to have much capacity for communication.

And the rats were an immediate problem, of course, so it made sense that others might want to handle them directly - that was certainly necessary right now. But Ralir had noticed them early, and thus thought he might as well take a different course of action, because if whatever disturbed the rats persisted, then there was a danger that the group would be beset by rats all along their journey. That would certainly be a shame.

(( OOC ))

The rats drew closer and Draven watched what he could from where he was. Many were trying to spot what was going on with the rats, why they were swarming the way they were. Draven caught sight of a doe, Krima, who tried scaring the rats, but they seemed to turn their attention towards her. Surging forward he tried to do the same, but it seemed all he was successful in doing was taking the attention off the doe. Breaking off a bit from the rest of them, hoping to keep the dire rats on his tail and off the others, He hoped to keep them distracted enough for someone to figure out what was wrong.

"Break left." Bluebell said as Draven leaped left as a couple rats had tries attacking the back of his legs. "I can hope that those hunting for reasons why this is happening can figure it out quickly."

Draven kept his distance away from the rest of the group, Ducking and weaving from side to side. At times he would leave over the swath to keep their attention on him. He didn't want to really harm them, just maybe confuse them and maybe cause some confusion. That was the hope anyways....

Without pausing, Viltalta swung toward the rats rising up and smashing her hooves wherever they scurried.

“There’s too many of them!” she called back to her party. “Stay together! We have to figure this out...”

So lost in thought Fiontan almost missed the movement across the dark, cool ground as he plodded along looking for the rest of the group.

The movement at first did not seem like much for him to worry about, looked honestly like a swarm of those icky little bug things he has seen on the ground but as he got closer he realized that was no bug swarm. These things had long tails, claws and teeth!

Sneering at the movement he decided he must act quickly to rid himself and the others of these disgusting little rodents. He lowered his head and ran full speed at the largest concentration of those things that seemed to be huddled near a tree. His heart beating fast he kept his focus on that particular steady stream of those nasty things until he was suddenly inside the group. He had trampled, kicked and stepped on some of them as he ran through. A few managed to swipe at him with their claws which was uncomfortable but he kept moving.

Going around in a wide circle he went back for a second charge and this time they were ready for him. The seemed to continue their movements obliivous to him then soon as he was near enough they separated and then all seemed to attack him at once. His hooves and ankles were being bitten, gnawed and scratched. He shook them off the best he could as he ran, he needed to pick up speed so those still hanging onto his fur would detach and be flung off far away from him.

Without meaning to he let out a wail of pain and it scared a few of them off him. Sensing a way out he pretended to stumble and let out a louder wail and they jumped off in a rush and took off away from him, all except one. This little bugger refused to run, refused to stop biting him and seemed to stare him down in challenge.

Fiontan shook his head to try to clear his vision and relax a bit before deciding what to do about this one indiginant rat. As hilarious as this situation was to Fiontan he knew it could turn deadly at any moment, this rat seemed to be taunting him. Wanting him to rush at him. Fiontan took a few steps then stopped and retreated. "Why does this one want me to rush him?" he thought to himself. "Odd, really odd but then again it is either he is just brave or they have something planned for me once I attack him!" that thought echoed in his head.

Knowing he had injuries to attend to and he was tired but still had plenty of stamina left he decided the best course of action was to back track and go around this particular area to avoid them as best he could. He knew they could follow and more than likely would but his safety and those in front of him were his primary concern. If they did follow and attack he would defend himself.

He slowly plodded off to the far side keeping that one rat in his line of sight until he could no longer and continued hoping to find the rest of the group.

W/C: 549

Tsarine, with confidence flowing into his very being, still feared this hoard now closer to them. He showed confusion in his actions but also his thoughts leaving him disheveled why they were acting in a strange manner. There so many attacking, lunging, that it made the poor buck stand extremely still as a statue. He couldn't just stand here trembling either as they swept past his legs. Feeling something leap on his back made him almost scream till he realized that larger Scuttle scoot was sitting across from Ayala. This was the same one Tsarine had noticed poking its head out of the rock.

The male Scuttle Scoot felt much safer higher than the hoard of rats incoming. Looking intently at the smaller female he dipped his head, "Ayala, what brings you back to the Barrens?" Simple conversation to lighten the dread surrounding them perhaps.

Ayala stared directly at the male her eyes never blinking as her body still clung close tp Tsarine. She wasn't in the mood for laughter or jokes when her Buck might go crazy and get them all killed. "I'm not looking for small talk Tynan nor am I accepting your help". Her strong little legs stayed stationary with her narrowed gaze on the male.

"Ouch..." the male hissed, "I'm not trying to make you angry. More so I'm here to help if those bin feeders decide to jump up here".

Ayala rolled her eyes at the male then focused back to Tsarine, "We need to do something Big Boy before they decide to use you as a chew toy".

Tsarine had never faced danger before till he nearly got attacked by the Cat Beast. These things were a real menace let alone danger to the group right now. Holding his breath he finally spoke, "Both of you hold on. I'm going to try and see if I can figure out what's driving them to toward us". Kicking out his legs he leaped over a few of the rats to the outer edges of the group then started making his way up toward the front of the group. Something seemed off driving these creatures toward the party almost as if they were hiding something. While Tsarine had never met a dire rat in the ruins it was possible they never crossed paths. He realized once again just how sheltered his life truly was back in his sanctuary he called home. Darting back and forth he searched out clues knowing there were quite a few Dire rats following him.

he shouted loudly still trying to gain a reason why they were assembling so many rats in one huge battle.


Tsarine, Ayala, Tynan WC: 450