What's new pussycat?

Gryphon glided along the border, paws making little sound despite the hint of mud beneath the grasses. It was, as usual this autumn, windy and dreary, though at least there was no rain today. Thunder still grumbled in constant counterpoint to his heart, though, and the mist around him was lit in flashes of distant lightning. It was in it's own way rather pretty actually, and it matched the grim mood he'd been in for some time. Not today though - the gold-brown male was on the hunt, and he was always happiest on the hunt. It gave him a focus for his overprotective instincts and restless energy, and every time he slipped into that slinking hunter's stance to search out prey he found his whole soul relaxing.

He didn't find prey today as he moved through the mist, though. No, today a strange, rank scent suddenly filled his nose, causing him to sneeze in alarm and disgust. What on earth was that? It smelled almost like... well, almost like a jaguar, but there was some weird quality about it that immediately put the hunter's hackles on end. Even if there hadn't been something weird about it, he couldn't tolerate a jaguar wandering the pack territories. Dragon's friendship with his cat companion notwithstanding, the big cats were dangerous neighbors. Most wouldn't hesitate to take a wolf if they could find one young or weak on it's own. There were no pups in the pack, not yet, but many of the pack members were still recovering from major wounds taken in the raid earlier in the year. That extra, strange addition to the scent though... that made it even more urgent he track this creature and get rid of it.

Alternatively dropping his nose to the ground, or lifting it to scent the air, he followed the traces left by the strange not-jaguar as it penetrated deeper and deeper into the plains. Suddenly he froze, alerted as much by the sound of rustling grass as by the hot scent of the trail that he was very close. Settling his body even lower, practically slinking on his belly as he placed each paw with greatly exaggerated care to be even more silent. Luckily he was downwind of the creature, so his scent wouldn't alert it.

Eyes narrowed to reduce the shine, he carefully slipped his face through the grass cover enough to see his quarry. What he saw was enough to freeze him, blinking, in place.

It was... or had started out as... a jaguar, but something had caused it to grow to a massive size, easily ten paws tall at the shoulder making it a little larger even than Dragon. It's eye teeth were extremely elongated, hanging down past its lower jaw, and the rest of its teeth were unnaturally sharp and pointed as though filed to a point. It couldn't even close its mouth properly with that sharks-mouth full of teeth, and the gaping jaws dripped drool constantly. A fetid stench came from the opened maw, like some unholy combination of snake venom and rotted meat. Its green eyes seemed to glow, the mist around its head reflecting the glow weirdly so that it appeared wreathed in eerie green smoke.

Gryphon carefully - so very carefully! - withdrew until he was a safe distance away and sat down to think. Well, he couldn't possibly take care of this menace on his own, that was for certain. But he didn't want to alert the creature either, so he loped even further away before he threw back his head and called the pack to him. Technically as an omega he didn't have the authority to order ANYONE around, but he hadn't at any point in the last few seasons really ACTED like an omega anyway so the note of command in his voice wouldn't likely come as any surprise to anyone who knew him.

OOC: Remember that if we complete this we can get an extra 5 points for fighting skills on top of whatever "fighting off predator attack" ends up being for skills, so let's try to get four rounds!