The last caribou had narrowly escaped their clutches, entrails actively leaking from its stomach. Iscariot was deeply, incredibly unsettled by the entire thing. Her own stomach churning, the only sounds from the panicked prey still echoed in her mind. Without another thought, she follows the blood trail until it... until it stops making sense. Until it stops making sense, then disappears entirely.

She doesn't like anything about this. Like a dog with a bone, Iscariot zeroes in on a different herd of prey, one that's just as confused. Musk oxen, mashing their faces against the horrible, snowy ground, ceaselessly. They're behaving just as strangely as the caribou had.

Dialing in on the herd, narrowing her eyes, Isacriot singles out the most confused of the lot. A large male, pawing and ramming his nose against the ragged ground, his face already bloody from the effort. Gaze scanning the red, rugged hellscape... there had to be enough wolves for another hunt nearby. If she starts running, someone will come.

So run she does. Right into the herd, directly into the line of fire, the creature throws herself. Closing the distance at a breakneck pace, she's ready. Riot is solving this one, come hell or high water.

"Iscariot"

His buzzard brought word of the rumors. Rumors of prey animals in the north acting bizarrely, digging frantically at the earth. After the tremors and the strange spires he couldn't stop himself from investigating further. The distinct smell of musk ox caught his attention and he traced it to a herd. A large male musk ox was digging frantically, its motions reeking of a kind of desertion that lead it to slamming its face into the ground. Horns dug up clumps of dirt. What strange madness was gripping this land?

He spied a small female charging for the musk ox alone. Was she mad as well? Coran swiftly joined in, his legs rapidly eating up the distance. "Please, let me assist," he called to her before shifting course and charging for the rear of the ox. He snapped and snarled, ducking as the ox kicked back sharply, the rest of the herd scattering in the confusion.

Bronze was rightfully unsettled by the oddities occurring in the north. He knew all of this was far more widespread, but he only cared for the north and the happenings here. He was born here, it was all he'd ever really known. He was familiar with the prey animals in these parts too, and hearing about their unusual behavior made it obvious something wasn't right.

He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as he headed north. It wasn't difficult to find prey acting strangely- birds nested low to the ground, picking obsessively at the ice, and deer scraped their antlers relentlessly on the ground. Whatever was in the air seemed more serious than he originally expected. If anyone were to figure it out, though, he was sure it would be the Armada- and he wanted to help.

He wasn't the only one studying the prey animals. Not far off, a small wolf was hot on the heels of an oxen. Bold choice for a wolf her size. Another wolf had just caught up too, and Bronze picked up his pace and tried to close the distance between himself and the hunting party. He wanted to help bring the oxen down, hoping its death might bring answers.

here comes battery and his zero skills to fudge it up

The thundering of hooves roared near by, quickly pulling his attention away from the strange structure. Intrigued, he hurried off in the direction just in time to see a few wolves hurdling straight towards a herd of musk ox. Well, that looks like fun! Without any thought on the potential danger, especially the strange occurrences as of late, Battery joined in on the fun and barrelled towards the crazed herd and the one the others were after.

Others had real reason to hunt these animals, a reason Battery could only assume was hunger but he was wrong. Sure, he could use a bite to eat, but he wasn't hungry- just in search of fun, and completely ignorant of what was to come. He hadn't a clue that these animals were acting strangely and that this hunt was to figure out why, but he was all in regardless, and snapped at the hooves of the animal despite his smaller size with a smile on his face.

i am the psycho, the sinner
i am what you can't escape
i am the splinter underneath your skin

ǐ̵̙͎̗̻̳̆̕͝ ̸̨̻͚͙̥̱̍̎̀̓ä̷̫̥́͗͒̄͠ͅm̶̡͒͒̚ ̸̼͖̙̯͔̞͂a̷̱̳̲͇̕ ̶̢͓͍̾̈́͘ṁ̴̨̥̲̦͚͂͋̒̂̐ơ̷͇̤̘̣̜͊̈́̽n̵̢̫̫͕̄s̵̱̥̊͘ͅt̵͖̩͈͍͈̬͗e̷͎͊ṟ̴͘͜
Speech ─ Think

─ by Skelle !

If she chases, they will come. Come they did. Three other wolves, melting from the shadowy red treeline. The large, pale man is the first to actually ask if he can come along, and Riot gives a nod over her shoulder. All the breath in her lungs committed to pursuit, she can't spare more. Not yet.

As they close in on the herd, she lets go an ungodly snarling. Half barking, half something far worse, it's enough to scatter the rest of the oxen. Circling their chosen prey like sharks in the water, Iscariot reaches out, grazing the already bloodied face of the dazed creature. Pushing him back toward her compatriots, pure violence and energy coursing hot in her bones.

"Iscariot"

With her nod of confirmation, Coran dove whole-heartedly into his role. He snapped viciously at the oxen's hind legs. More wolves came, a larger male and a smaller one joining the fray. At one point Coran's fangs snagged the left hock. The beast slowed to try and kick back, hindering its escape and allowing the wolves to surround it as the small female started in on the ox's face. It bellowed and thrashed its horned head. Coran shifted his angle, attacking the inside of the ox's left leg with as much force as he could muster. His fangs ripped through flesh, his chest slamming into the inside of the hind leg and forcing it outward. The sudden shift in its footing caused the ox to tip to its side, its left rear end slamming into the dirt. Siwftly it kicked out, trying to get back up and Coran was forced to release his hold to save his skull.

Apparently he wasn't the only one with this idea- he hoped by putting one of the afflicted prey animals out of its misery, they might learn something from it. It wasn't like this hunt was for food, not knowing what was wrong with these animals, so he assumed the other hunters wouldn't have a problem with his assistance. Kicking off harder to try to close the distance between himself and the others, he let out a threatening growl, aimed toward the oxen, as he drew closer.

A smaller, younger wolf wasn't far off now either. Bronze cast him a sideways glance as he pulled forward, seeing the herd begin to scatter. Their target was disrupted, reeling around and beginning to thrash. He tried to dodge its kicking limbs and aimed to dish out a few small but fast bites toward its hind flanks.

the city looks so pretty
do you want to burn it with me?

The other were older, bigger, stronger, and likely more skilled but he didn't care! Battery was included and involved, eager to finish this hunt and presumably eat a good meal! Unaware the oxen was plagued with whatever was happening to the land, his ignorant mind was focused on the meal, not putting the oxen out of it's misery for science.

Battery joined into the fray as the woman snapped at it's face, the pale man lunged for the inner thigh, and the blue man dodged and aimed for the flank. He wasn't as fast as the others, his shorter stride requiring more effort to keep up with the others and the oxen, but he worked hard and caught up. Approaching perpendicular to the group, scattering the rest of the heard, Battery lowered his head and snapped towards a front ankle, nipping at the skin and aiming to force it into stumbling over it's own legs as the wolves surrounded the infected beast.

Speech ─ Think

─ by Skelle !

Every part of her is vicious, downright nasty. Iscariot launches at the creature's face, keeping it distracted, mindful of the horns. Even still, the ox isn't acting right. It seemed... sluggish? Foggy, like things weren't making the most sense. Did he even know what was happening? Surely it must, in some way. Still, Iscariot is incensed. Driving hard and fast, she shreds into its face.

When she has an opening, the tiny wolf goes straight for the throat. No use dragging this out, especially as their prey began to rock and stumble on its feet. All snarls and snapping, sharp teeth driving as deeply as she could into her target. Nothing to stop them now, and soon, they'd have answers. Hopefully have answers.

"Iscariot"

Coran nimbly dodged to the side, avoiding injury and regaining his footing as he raced back after the ox. The others were heckling it, stalling any chance of running. He saw the small female at the front and quickly moved to aid her by taking a flying leap onto the oxen's back. His chest crashed into the top of the beast's neck as his fangs grabbed an ear and he pulled back sharply. He hoped to pull back the creature's head far enough to aid the woman in getting a killing blow. If she was fast she could latch on before the ox surged back to its feet. He could only hope the others were able to keep it down. Should the ox take off with him on its back it would almost certainly mean serious injury.

Though Bronze was well aware of the wolves he was working alongside, he was mostly focused on his own movements. His paws hit the frozen ground hard, pushing him forward and closer to the oxen with each second. As they closed in on their target, he lunged forward and aimed to grab hold of its hind leg. His bite found purchase for but a moment before he was forced to release it against its frenzied kicking.

Regardless of his own tunnel vision, it was a group effort- not something he could do on his own. He was well aware of that.

As soon as the prey animal began to stumble he took the lead of the others. He lurched forward hard, aiming his weight toward the oxen's hindquarters, hoping to grab hold of one of its back flanks and sink his fangs in deep. With any luck he hoped one of them might be able to get to its throat and end its suffering once and for all. He hoped then they'd be able to study its corpse and see if it might give them any answers.

The bison had little life left as the wolves continued their attacks, each doing their own part. Battery was just here for the fun, but the experience would, prove beyond useful, especially unbeknownst to him what was to come. He expected this bison to be like every other bison, full of meat and warm blood. So as it began to stumble, battery changed his target and aimed for the massive animals armpit.

Teeth sank into the softer flesh and he yanked it free, exposing the important tendons and ligaments and going in for a second to finish the deal. Others were going for more direct kill shots while battery focused on making sure their catch wouldn't get up again, or bleed out trying.