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Oh.

Oh.

Yeah, that was a pretty good point. But a pretty good point they didn't have time to factor in. Not when they were so close. "You're right," Elcca said in a hurried whisper. "If you can step on stones, step on them. But its too late now, we'll just have to hope it will be morning by the time they notice them."

Always one to overdo things, Elcca quickly took to trying to hop-foot onto Morag's footprints. But it was still dark, and her attempts were haphazard at best. Maybe they'd think a giant lion roamed around here in the dark, fueling ghost stories for years to come.

That might have been more wishful thinking on her part.

Quiet as a whisper, she felt the sudden beat of wings ahead of them. Yoan was circling, watching the movements of the guards as they still searched for the sounds that had distracted them. "They are otherwise occupied," he reported. "But we've got other problems."

"What kind of other problems?" Elcca angrily whispered through clenched teeth.

"Looks like the guards have been pushing stones to fortify the pass. You'll have to scale it."

Sure enough, as they rounded the corner the way was blocked by a meager avalanche. Judging by the claw marks on some of the stones, it hadn't been a natural one. It would be no problem at all for the otherwise able bodied group to climb over, but the stones might be a problem if they fell and made noise...

I hope you like climbing!

arrow Each lion crossing the 'wall', roll 1-10.

It takes 5 points to scale the wall
Landing 3 and below causes a stone to fall!

More than three stones will alert the guards!

Serkan scowled at the wall, finding it more than just an annoyance and far more than irritating. It down-right pissed him off to be this close and find a wall in his way. Another blockade between him and knowing if Pele was okay, how many of his children still lived, and many other things. The red lion paced for a moment while others moved, before he finally moved, starting a careful climb up the wall. The red, white, and black male soon made it to the top, happy to find no rocks fallen. He shifted around, reaching a paw down in offering to anybody who might need help up. He'd seen the way at least Elcca moved. If they were all making this trek together, they'd need everybody present, not have the group dwindle down because someone got left behind at the wall. As he leaned, he ended up slipping right back down, thankfully landing not only on his paws but not knocking any rocks down. A frustrated growl sat low in his throat as he glared at the confounding wall.

Elcca lingered only a moment, watching Yoan drift overhead and past the wall. Maybe there was some benefit to his predicament after all. He didn't have to deal with this nonsense at least. She took a quick glance behind her to watch the rest of the group approach before starting up the incline herself.

Just as she'd feared, the stones were loose. At least one had already clattered to the ground below. Better get moving.

Luckily, while Elcca might not have been much of a fighter, she was a small lioness. Her weight let her scale the lose stones with ease. She paused occasionally though just to be sure she wasn't getting ahead of herself. She could be a bit brazen, but at least she knew when to reign it in.

Once she reached the top, she quickly made a few short downward hops to the bottom. She hadn't dethroned any stones, but the landing could have been better. A lace of pain sliced up her paw as she landed on the old wound. It was about all she could do to simply hiss out a rough owch, and dart to the shadows behind the others.

A rock catches right upon a scar, causing the dark lion to wince as he grasped for a grip. Eyes close and ears pinned as he heard the faint tumbling of pebbles give away beneath his feet. He cursed himself. It would appear, though he had crossed these mountains once before, it had a grudge for letting him pass through. With a growl under breath, as he stood against the wall and back to those who remained with him. If things continued as they were, surely someone would have heard them.

The dark Hongshan paced silently as he looked up at the wall, he would surely try again, but for now, the pain running through his paws needed to subside first.

Watching the others, Serkan paced, contemplating the problem. After a moment, he let out a huff, looking over his shoulder. The guards would be back soon... Even if they didn't make more noise. The distraction wouldn't hold forever. Finally, he turned to Morag. "I forget name, but climb on back..." He went over to the wall, standing next to it and crouching slightly. "Might have better time getting up." As long as they all made it up and over, he didn't care if he had to hoist EVERYBODY up. Green eyes turned again towards the path back, watching and listening for guards.

Mkazo watched silently, tail swishing idly behind him the only sign of any uncertainty that they would make it over the wall undetected. At least, until the first lion failed to make it up the wall. That caused a frown to set in upon his face. Then, a rock fell. His ear twitched at that, and at each rock that followed, as his frown deepened and became positively thunderous. If they kept on like gods-damned bumbling cubs, they'd have the guards on top of them! And since nobody had suggested, 'just walk across since we have a good story to tell them for why we're here' earlier, he had his doubts as to whether there would be any such story to pull out of thin air now.

Thinking on his paws, Serkan rose back up from where he'd been crouching, slowly approaching the other lion. "Appologies, ah... I forget name." So many names... He really HAD forgotten a chunk of names. "We out hunting, some get practice in... Found REALLY good prey, but go this way, we chase. Thought night hunting be good practice, prove frustrating." He looked up toward the guard post, expression confusion in his face. "Heard animal sounds in distance, see no guards... So figure they go after other thing in dark." His gaze turned back to Tarsa. He'd seen that shade of gold in a few eyes around the pride - In particular, a lot of lions that, as he dimly recalled, were related to an old bag of bones that hug on to life despite his obviously advanced age and lack of physical abilities remaining. Perhaps Tarsa was related to... Well, almost every gold-eyed lion.

Mkazo barely suppressed a groan, but he did let loose a disgusted sigh as Tarsa's voice rang out. It just had to ******** figure, didn't it? Successfully distract the guards from their post, only to be tripped up by a simple wall. He could hear Serkan talking--it was a good enough story, if Tarsa believed it. If he overlooked the utter lack of sense it would take to hunt in the direction the Nergui came from. Or the fact that prey of any decent size would make a hell of a lot more noise than they'd been, climbing over the rocks. He glanced at Elcca, face twisting in a grimace. Even if the story slid, it didn't mean the rest of them were getting over. They could all just be ordered home.