Azure was not the only wolf with his eye upon the herd of buffalo. Their coats were wooly and dense, protecting them from both the frigid northern temperatures as well as interested predators looking for a meal. He had gathered the wolves together in a hunting party - more than comfortable by now with the idea of partaking in such an event with strangers all from different packs and walks of life. It would take more than one wolf to take down these dangerous beasts, but thankfully their location offered them a wide array of benefits in the hunt. The herd was between them and the gorge, the largest trap he'd ever utilized.

Already he had decided how he wanted to drive them to their deaths, but Azure was in a teaching mood. Turning his head to the group, he swept his gaze across them and opened the floor to ideas. "Does anyone have a thought on how we can best get this done with the least risk to us?" Buffalo were dangerous creatures, known to fight back with unrelenting might once threatened and were more than capable of even killing a full grown wolf. That combined with the fact that the group of hunters were not known to each other nor had reason to trust each other made a close combat kill more risky.

"Speech"

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn was settling into her life in Boreas and while she hadn’t picked a region in particular to settle in she was enjoying her travels. She had been out scoping the north when she ran into Azure and a number of other wolves. A hunt was quickly organized for some of the largest prey she’d ever seen. Jynn couldn’t remember if she’d ever eaten buffalo. If she had it was scraps from some other predator’s kill or a bison that had just happened to conveniently die. She looked to Azure as he asked for ideas. “I’m not familiar with this species. Would it be possible to run them down and take whichever falls farthest behind. That might be a straightforward way to suss out the weakest animal.” After that she wasn’t sure. It’d probably be up to Azure or one of the larger wolves to go for the throat.

Terra shifts, feeling uncomfortable being away from Lotus and with a bunch of strangers. Today, she is definitely out of her comfort zone. However, since she and Lotus had traveled north with little food on them, the pair need some meat and these great wooly beasts would feed them for a while. The tall male who introduced himself as Azure opens the floor to ideas and the earthen wolf’s ears flatten against her skull in a show of uncertainty.

Speaking up to the group is daunting to the girl who had lived in a cave for eight months of her life but she wants to participate in this discussion. Jynn, the pretty maned wolf of the group, speaks up and Terra bobs her head while biting her lip. Emerald eyes dart among the gathered wolves and she clears her throat to gather their attention.

With eyes on her, Terra’s cheeks grow hot and she stammers out, “The.. the gorge. It could… be a natural funnel. We… drive the herd in there? Maybe make a pitfall or something…” voice trails off as she shrugs her shoulders, ducking her head to avoid seeing the disappoint and anger on any of their faces from her horrible idea.


"Terra Qilaq"

ooc. sorry for hella late response, I didn't anticipate leaving y'all waiting this long Of the group that had come together to form the hunting party, they were certainly a ragtag bunch. Two titanic mountain dwellers and two fae with ruddy, earthen toned coats. A good group for what was ahead. The leggy fae, a kind of canine that they had never seen before this, would be well suited to chasing down any kind of prey. The impromptu leader of their party cast his critical eye upon them, and asked for suggestions. The giant remained still and silent, mottled gaze drifting to both of the others as they spoke up with their own suggestions. With a soft grunt, they nodded their head towards the young female who spoke up last. "My clan has been hunting in the mountains for generations, and that's usually our go-to." they rumbled with a small smile. "We could also drive them towards the edge instead," they offered, turning their gunmetal eyes to the gorge that lay ahead. There were parts of the cliff face that dipped into natural inlets that tracked further down the sheer face in narrow trails, but the steep drops in between were more than useful for driving prey to their demise. "letting gravity do the heavy lifting will keep us from gettin' gored by one of them. The thing about bison is they don't turn very fast, so even if most of them turn away from the cliff, there will be one or two that don't turn in time, and we can drive them over the edge. The basin is relatively calm, so we can break down the kill there and drag the rest up once that's done." the words tumbled freely from dark lips as they turned their attention back to the group. A heavy shrug of burly shoulders followed up their less than detailed plan, and the giant glanced between the other three in search of agreement or dissent. They weren't married to the plan, but it was certainly a tried and true method.

Each suggestion had it's own merit and Azure looked each wolf in the eye as they offered their own opinions. Jynn was first (and the least wolfish of them all) and while her suggestion was sound, Az gave a bit of a hesitant grunt in reply. His head turned to scout the land around them - making note of the snow that had yet to fully melt as summer arrived - and then the hunters who had gathered. "If we were in the south on flat land, I might agree with you. Though the snow makes such a feat more dangerous, breaking trail will be difficult and we can't see what is beneath it. One wrong move or stuck paw when fighting close quarters with one of these beasts could be death for whichever one of us is the unlucky one who has to deliver the killing blow."

The next suggestion came from the first stranger who'd arrived and Azure paid her as much attention as he had the maned wolf. She offered a good suggestion, though he could not ignore the insecurity seeping out from her. It was not a good quality in a hunting partner. In an attempt to build up her confidence before the hunt he nodded, doing his best to not be as typically cruel as he could be in hopes of not making her feel too shut down. "That's along the lines of what I'm thinking." Az agreed. "Though we don't need to build a pitfall trap when we have the gorge itself." The next stranger spoke up, echoing Azure's thoughts and he nodded deeper this time, surprised and thankful for the wolf's knowledge. "Yes, the cliff face itself will do."

The wolves who had joined the hunt were all large in their own rights which was good, it meant he did not have to dole out positions for a small wolf that would keep them out of danger. The buffalo should be sufficiently spooked by their mere appearance and driving them off the ledge shouldn't be too difficult at all. "We'll surround the herd first. They're going to want to veer off, so the largest of us should take the flanks to dissuade that. You two - " He gestured toward the women. "Can take the rear. We'll move together, the goal is to frighten them enough that they stampede. With enough fear they won't notice the cliff until it's too late. As we've already heard, it is unlikely that the entire herd will go over the edge. We will need to pick out the one we think is most likely to go over and focus our efforts on it. But be careful." The frightened animal might slow too soon and a battle might be in store regardless, one to drive it the rest of the way to it's death.

Azure waited to hear if anyone else had any questions, before taking his position upon the left flank.

"Speech"

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Terra listens intently as each wolf speaks and she even manages a smile to Snowflake as he looks to her. The leader of the group, Azure, goes through their responses and the earthen girl nods along as she listens to the lesson. As the plan is laid out, she nods her agreement when the task of taking up the rear position is given to her and Jynn. Darting glances to each member to try and gauge their responses, Terra asks, “Should we have a signal, just in case something goes wrong? That way we can all drop back and regroup instead of risking injury?” Hopefully, they won’t need to use it but it seems like a good idea to have one. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

"Terra Qilaq"